By Tyler Marr

Hoback, Baird talk Scheer as leader after tour of Diefenbaker House

Jun 4, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Former Foreign Minister John Baird and Prince Albert MP Randy Hoback are confident in newly elected Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer.

These comments came after Baird passed through Prince Albert for a tour of the John Diefenbaker House Saturday afternoon with Hoback and Mayor Greg Dionne.

Scheer, the former House of Commons Speaker and Member of Parliament for Regina – Qu’Appelle, edged a narrow victory over rival Quebec MP Maxime Bernier to take the helm of the party on May 27. 

“I look at Andrew Scheer and I look at Saskatchewan, we have 14 ridings in Saskatchewan, and I think they are all going to go Conservative the next time around,” Hoback said. Hoback had previously voiced support for Ontario MP Erin O’Toole in the race.

Baird was similarly pleased with the new leader and believed Scheer had the appeal to attract conservatives from across the political spectrum.

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“We got a guy people are rallying behind,” he said.  

Neither saw the party veering farther to the right when it came to social matters, despite Scheer’s more socially conservative views. Scheer said he would not revisit debates around abortion rights or gay marriage, which, according to Baird, “is a smart strategy” in 2017.

“I am pretty conservative but I am not a social conservative,” Baird said. “I am pro-choice. I am one of the few who voted for gay marriage 12 years ago and I am very comfortable with Andrew as the leader.”

As for the 49 per cent of support thrown behind Bernier at the convention, Hoback saw this as a sign of party growth in Quebec and Eastern Canada.

“I think we are going to end up with stronger ridings in Quebec just because of the showing Max had,” Hoback said.

Both agreed Scheer was well suited to take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals come 2019.

Scheer is the first MP from Saskatchewan to lead the Conservative party since Diefenbaker in 1956. This made for a fitting visit to the home.

On Diefenbaker, Baird said he was “the last of the old-time politicians, where you went through the country by train. He gave off the cuff speeches and he was the original larger than life character.”

“He was so ahead of his time…the bill of rights was a real landmark in Canada,” he added.

Baird, a self-proclaimed fan of the ‘Dief’, was awash with intrigue as he toured the historic residence for the first time.

He recalled his grandmother taking him to the former Prime Minister’s wake in Centre Block when he was 10-years-old. Baird also spoke of the numerous buildings and award’s he has championed to bear Diefenbaker’s name, such as the Department of Foreign Affairs building and the Freedom Award.

Both he and Hoback heralded the former prime ministers work on inclusion, human rights and transforming the West into a solid Conservative base. 

They saw Diefenbaker as a unifying figure in party history and one who Conservatives rallied behind to help quell any bad blood after the merger of the Canadian Alliance / Reform Party and Progressive Conservatives in 2003.

According to Hoback, the man’s work and beliefs are alive and well in the party.

“His beliefs are actually what we believe in today. [He was] just such a present and stand up individual and stood up for what he believed in and what he said.”

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr