Political science prof dissects Lewis’ performance in Saskatchewan

Political scientist Jim Farney believes Dr. Leslyn Lewis’ performance in Saskatchewan during the Conservative Party leadership race shows that social conservatives have numbers and are well-mobilized in the province.

Lewis, a lawyer from Toronto and a Jamaican immigrant, campaigned openly on promises including to ban sex-selective abortions and ending funding for them abroad. She also opposes measures to ban conversion therapy.

She finished first in Saskatchewan among the four leadership hopefuls when results of the first ballot were announced Sunday. She finished third nationally on the first ballot and, after again finishing third in the second round of voting, was dropped off the third ballot.

Erin O’Toole won the leadership on that ballot.

However, Farney — the department head of politics and international studies at the University of Regina — points to style and not just substance when it came to Lewis.

He describes her as espousing a kind of “soft populism,” a combination of personal likability while still opposing things like “cancel culture” and “political correctness.”

That, he suggested, makes her palatable to those who might not hold socially conservative views “in an age where Conservatives like everybody else are paying attention to questions of race and gender and asking themselves how can the party be seen as welcoming to people who aren’t straight, white, male.”

“The idea of a Black, immigrant woman who takes a conservative position on a lot of views probably pulled some people in as well,” Farney said.

On issues that are of interest to people in the Prairies like gun control, energy and the environment, Farney found most candidates were on the same page, even if some had more fully fleshed-out policy platforms.

“With Lewis, where she stood on the environment was more worked out than most of her other stuff and I don’t think anything there would have turned westerners off,” Farney said.

“We had no favourite son candidate really this time. There was no Andrew Scheer running, there was no westerner running and so that kind of washed things out.”

While Farney thinks Lewis ran a good campaign and came close to the frontrunners in fundraising, he’s less certain on her political future.

She has no doubt increased her name recognition but as a Conservative, she would find it hard to win in the Greater Toronto Area.

“You could imagine if the Liberals have Mark Carney as a special adviser. I’d imagine her as a special adviser to the leader,” Farney said.

“But over the long term, you need to get into Parliament. That’s going to be the task. Can they find a riding for her where she can run and win?”