By Canadian Press

Scheer says platform will help unify Canada, in contrast to divisive Liberals

Oct 19, 2019 | 2:44 PM

BRAMPTON, Ont. — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer campaigned through some of the hottest battlegrounds in this election Saturday, facing questions about how far he’s willing to go to win.

He batted back the suggestion that his platform favours Quebec over all other provinces, and flat out refused to address a report that his party hired an outside firm to “destroy” the other conservative party running in this election.

And as he repeated unsubstantiated claims that the Liberals and the NDP would form a coalition government that would seek to raise the GST and drive the country far deeper into deficit, he insisted that everything he’s brought to the table this election campaign was for the common good.

“Every morning we have gotten up and we have put forward a positive platform offering hope and opportunity for Canadians,” he said at a morning event in Toronto.

That the platform makes specific targeted pledges to Quebec, that he’s spent weeks telling voters there that with him in office their future is well in their hands, shouldn’t be interpreted as giving the province more say than others, said Scheer.

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“I reject the notion in any way one province is treated differently under the Conservative platform,” Scheer said.

It is the Liberal government that is dividing the nation, Scheer alleged.

“It’s quite clear that under Justin Trudeau, region has been pit against region,” Scheer said.

In contrast, Scheer said, a Conservative government would put forward policies and support projects that would bring Canadians together.

He cited his idea for a national energy corridor, which could help oil and gas flow east and hydroelectric power move west.

But if that corridor involves an oil pipeline, it might face a major hurdle in Quebec, where Premier Francois Legault has said there is no “social acceptability” for a future projects that would be similar to the failed Energy East pipeline.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs revived that issue Friday when he said Quebec should buy more into the national interest, and that the province was the favoured child of the federation.

Scheer said Saturday he did not believe Quebec was a “special child.”

“All provinces have their unique challenges, their unique issues,” he said.

“It’s the role of the prime minister to address all issues that affect all Canadians in a way that brings our country closer together.”

Addressing those issues includes a climate plan that Scheer insisted Saturday did respond to the demands of thousands of Canadians — including those who took to the streets in Alberta Friday to advocate for stronger action on climate change.

Scheer has spent little time in that province this campaign, though he often invokes the decimation of its economy as the motivating factor behind his drive to repeal the carbon tax.

Yet, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney suggested Saturday that it was only the federal Conservatives who have Alberta’s interests in mind, accusing the others of turning the province into a punching bag.

“Four of the five federal parties have been campaigning against Alberta, our resources and our workers,” Kenney wrote on Twitter.

How Scheer has been campaigning was also under scrutiny Saturday, as he was repeatedly pressed on a report suggesting his party had hired an outside firm to discredit the People’s Party of Canada.

Despite being asked nearly two dozen times whether that was the case, Scheer would only say he would not comment on outside vendors his party may or may not have hired.

The PPC is led by a former Conservative MP, Maxime Bernier, who also came within a whisker of winning the Conservative party leadership in 2017.

Millions of Canadians are now voting Conservative, Scheer told a roomful of party supporters in the Don Valley North riding of Toronto later Saturday.

“We are a grassroots party, we rely on hundreds of thousands of volunteers just like you.”

Scheer is scheduled for two more events in the Greater Toronto Area Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was originally published on Oct. 19, 2019.

Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press