By Canadian Press

Andrew Scheer attends opening of Buddhist temple after difficult campaign week

Oct 5, 2019 | 10:54 AM

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. — Andrew Scheer was a guest of honour today at the official opening of what was described as the largest Buddhist temple outside China, capping off a difficult week for the Conservative leader on the campaign trail.

Scheer has been dogged this week by questions about his dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, his pro-life abortion stance, and most recently, by the news the party kicked out a candidate in B.C. for past slurs against the LGBTQ community.

But Scheer was warmly welcomed by hundreds of worshippers attending the celebration southwest of Peterborough.

The large wooden temple at the Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden, with its golden-coloured roof, sat overlooking the rolling hills of the countryside outside Peterborough.

Temple president Dayi Shi introduced Scheer and translated his last name into Chinese, saying it meant “calm mind gives rise to wisdom.”

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Scheer’s difficult week had him spending a lot of time talking about how he is in the process of renouncing the dual American-Canadian citizenship he has through his U.S.-born father, and why he had never said anything publicly about it until now.

On Friday, the party dropped Heather Leung as its candidate in the British Columbia riding of Burnaby North-Seymour for homophobic comments, including describing LGBTQ Canadians as “perverted.”

Scheer told the crowd the temple — still partly under construction — “will be the largest Buddhist temple in North America and the largest anywhere in the world outside China.”

He also pledged his government would “defend religious freedom at home and abroad … we will protect freedom of conscience, thought and belief as core human rights.”

The Conservative leader is scheduled to visit a pizza shop in Peterborough and then a harvest festival in Newcastle later Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2019.

The Canadian Press