My Advice to the Honourable Andrew Scheer
Shortly after being elected as leader of the Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer took his family out on the summer BBQ circuit in order to meet the grassroots party members who had elected him to the position. One of the first areas of the country they came to visit was Atlantic Canada and as I was still living in Halifax, I took the opportunity to size up one of the main candidates I had voted for.
So in early July, 2017, I drove out to Brookfield, NS to meet the new leader in person. My first impression, besides the fact that he is a large man, was that he was very personable, articulate, and energetic. His wife and five children had accompanied Andrew and I was also impressed by Jill and the kids. In fact, I had a good, little chat with their 12 year old son while everyone was lining up to shake hands and take selfies with his Dad.
After the crowd calmed somewhat, I took my brief moment with the new Leader of the Opposition and came away with the following assessment: Andrew Scheer is a good, solid, honourable man who is married to a fantastic lady and has raised a wonderful family. I even got to see a little steel in his backbone when I joked a bit about ‘my’ Blue Bombers versus ‘his’ Roughriders. All in all, I was content with the new leader of the Party.
Looking back through history, do you know who else was a solid, stand-up, sincere sort of fellow who wanted to do the right thing? Neville Chamberlain.
After Chamberlain’s death in late 1940 due to bowel cancer, Winston Churchill eulogized the man with kind words and lamented the fact that he did not have a right hand man to take care of the Home Front. History unfavourably will look upon Chamberlain as the man who tried and failed to appease Hitler in order to stave off World War II. But after the Great War, who would blame an honourable man for wanting to head off another multi-million man, meat grinder conflict with Germany?
The take-away, cautionary tale of Neville Chamberlain is that the policy of appeasement does not work, not now and not ever.
Thankfully Canada is not in such dire straits compared to the lead up to World War II. But our country is headed for a cliff.
Politically, the schism between Canada’s regions has never been so pronounced. The Bloc Quebecois surged from 10 seats to 32 and ahead of the NDP for third place in the House. Not a single Liberal was elected in Saskatchewan or Alberta and outside of Vancouver and the far North, no Liberals were elected West of Winnipeg. Despite the poo-pooing from CBC pundits in their Toronto ivory towers, WEXIT is destined to become a powerful political voice for the four western provinces. Then of course there are several Premiers who are not onboard and may go into open revolt with regards to Prime Minister Trudeau’s plans for the country.
Economically, the Conference Board of Canada is predicting a slow-down for the economy in 2020 to under 2% growth. Energy products will continue to be unable to make their way efficiently to tide water or even across to Eastern Canada. (Anyone believing that Trudeau will get a pipeline built anytime soon should really lay off all the cannabis that they are smoking.) Deficits and the country’s debt is ballooning due to Trudeau’s out of control spending which is at levels only seen during war or severe recessions. The USMCA trade deal ratification process is taking an interminable length of time. Plus, Canadian producers are still highly vulnerable to arbitrary, punitive trade measures from foreign powers such as China.
Militarily, Canada continues to ride the coattails of our cousins to the South and in terms of absolute capability, we are a joke and the Americans are calling us on it. An Arctic base, as proposed by Stephen Harper, has been consigned to the dustbin. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has zero year-round military capability in the Far North other than a few Rangers armed with their new C19 rifles and their yearly allotment of 200 rounds of .308 ammunition. The new Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Harry DeWolf Class ships are not designed for heavy sea ice conditions and our limited submarine fleet cannot operate under the ice. Literally, the Americans, Russians, and soon the Chinese can and do operate with impunity in the waters of Canada’s Far North. How soon before they operate with impunity on the rest of our claimed territory?
This is by no stretch of the imagination an exhaustive list of the severe challenges facing our great Nation. So here’s my advice to the Honourable Andrew Scheer: during these troubled times, Canada needs you to be a Churchill not a Chamberlain. If you cannot take on the mantle of the warrior politician, then step aside for someone who will.
Specifically, Mr. Scheer or his successor, needs to act like the country is at stake. (Which if you are outside of the so-called known universe of Toronto, it is.) Sort out and call out the enemies of Canada. The big ones are the countries and organizations who are trying to shut down our resource based economy. As an example, China has been actively committing economic espionage and information hacking against Canada for decades. If Huawei gets their 5G tentacles too deep into Canadian information systems, the CAF could be shut out of the Five Eyes intelligence system. There are many bad faith countries in the World eager to screw Canada over and we need a robust defence that has been lacking for decades.
Another main area that needs immediate addressing is the attempt of foreign and domestic organizations whose aim is to stifle, degrade, and halt our resource based economy under the guise of ‘Saving the Planet’. Debate the role of CO2 all you want regarding apocalyptic climate predictions but Canada’s role is miniscule. Frankly, when a young, foreign, self-appointed climate saint shows up and is able to convince millions of Canadians that the world is going to end in a little over a decade if we do not shut down Alberta’s oil industry, then we deserve what we get.
Shut these snake oil peddlers down! Only the most deluded, naïve, environmental zealots believe that shutting down Canada’s oil and gas sector is advisable, wise, possible, or even necessary. It is the single largest section of Canada’s economy and the entities, within and without, trying to shut it down should be treated as enemies of the state. If we continue to act as the Boy Scouts of the World, we will continue to lose all influence and power. No one listens or cares about our ‘Green’ policies except for those who gain from our losses. Drop the ‘renewables’ fantasy schemes, denounce apocalyptic climate hysteria, and focus on the real challenges Canadians face today!
Another main antagonistic entity impeding the prosperity of Canada, is the leftist leaning mainstream media, headed by none other than the publicly funded CBC. Most of today’s journalist’s operate as the antithesis of Conservative values. If you are working for CTV, Global, or any of the Toronto papers, then fine, operate as you please as you are private companies. CBC does not deserve that latitude. They should be apolitical and not a propaganda arm of whoever comes to power.
A Conservative leader needs to call out the hypocritical, lopsided reporting which favours the Liberals. Shut down the nonsensical questions like ‘Why don’t you march in a Pride Parade’ or ‘Will you open the Abortion Debate?’ Call those provocateurs on the yellow journalism they are practicing. Get mean and stop taking the high road and basically grow a spine. The stakes are too high and the silent majority will back a true leader.
This is not a call for Andrew Scheer to step down unlike the present foment stirred up by the media calling his leadership into question. For the politically astute, the hullaballoo is a ploy to have the Conservatives in disarray while the Liberals try to maintain a minority government.
This is a call for Mr. Scheer to step up or step aside.
For Canada’s sake, we need a Churchill or possibly a Margaret Thatcher, to step up and move Canada away from the abyss and back towards prosperity and the influence of a World middle power.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.