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Not only did the Conservative Party of Canada lose the federal election, leader Pierre Poilievre also lost his seat and is planning to run in a byelection in the Battle River—Crowfoot riding in Alberta.
Vassy Kapelos spoke to Regina—Qu’Appelle MP Andrew Scheer, who won his Saskatchewan riding by a wide margin about Poilievre’s political future.
The Vassy Kapelos Show airs on Saturdays and replays on Sundays on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME.
These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
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- Bruce Fanjoy, retired businessman, says he defeated Poilievre by listening to voters
Conservative Andrew Scheer won his riding of Regina-Qu’Appelle. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
Kapelos: Should Poilievre stay or go?
Scheer: Pierre is is a fighter, and he’s doing it for the people who have been left behind for this government. That’s really what inspires him.
The Liberals have caused so much hardship for people and we heard those stories across the country — people who are still living in their parents’ basements because they can’t afford to own a home, people have lost their jobs and their livelihoods because of Liberal anti-energy and natural resource policies.
He’s really inspired by those people who are counting on our party to deliver that real change. We had incredible gains. He led our party to historic highs in every corner of the country, gained seats in every province. We’re disappointed that we didn’t form the government, but there’s a lot to build from here. Pierre’s inspirational leadership got us here and his continued leadership will be what delivers a victory next time.
Kapelos: Why did he fail to secure his own seat?
Scheer: Even in his own seat, he saw an increase in votes. When you look at the utter collapse of the NDP — I come from Saskatchewan, the birthplace of the CCF and Tommy Douglas and all the heroes on the radical left, and they came in third every election I ever fought in since 2004 — the NDP were in the low 30s, high 20s.
There is a lot at play in some of the seats that we weren’t successful in. There’s a story to be told there about all the new people that Pierre has attracted to our our movement.
More people voted for us than ever before. We got a higher percentage than ever in the modern Conservative history and we picked up seats that we haven’t held, in some cases, in 20 years. There’s an incredible base of support here that we could not have achieved without Pierre Poilievre.
Kapelos: You still couldn’t clinch a win after a 10-year record of the Liberal Government that you have told Canadians repeatedly is terrible for them. Why idoesn’t responsibility for that lie with Poilievre?
Scheer: We’re going to go through the process of finding out exactly what the campaign got right and what the campaign might have missed, or what we might need to address going forward.
There was a massive shift in the political landscape when when Justin Trudeau stepped down and we had a new Liberal leader that didn’t get a lot of scrutiny from the media, didn’t get a lot of the same tough questions that Conservatives tend to get, and immediately went into an election campaign.
Kapelos: Two Conservative premiers are saying it was the strategy employed that is pushing more people away than pulling in. Can you blame the NDP and the media?
Scheer: You can’t simultaneously say we push people away when we got more votes. That’s just factually incorrect. That’s just that doesn’t work on a mathematical level. I don’t know what else to say. We got more votes, we got a higher percentage, we won more seats. Clearly, we weren’t pushing people away. We we reached historic highs. That’s just a nonsensical statement.
Kapelos: Doug Ford is the premier of the most populous province in the in the country. Does what he say not matter at all?
Scheer: We’re in this not because we were worried about interpersonal relationships with someone like Doug Ford. We’re worried about the people in Ontario who are affected by terrible Liberal policies. That’s who we are listening to, that’s who we’re thinking about, doing that outreach to, and getting them on side and addressing their needs.
There are dynamics that we have to figure out. We have to take stock and say ‘what do we need to do to win next time?’ Poilievre is more popular in Ontario than Doug Ford based on the votes.
Kapelos: Didn’t the Liberals win the popular vote in Ontario?
Scheer: What I would say to everybody in Canada, every Conservative at every level, we can all agree that Liberal policies will be bad for Canada, so let’s work together.
Let’s stop this finger pointing. We will absolutely take a hard look at what decisions were made and why were they made and what data went into making those decisions.
I knocked on doors in every corner of this country. The despair that people had if the Liberals got another term was real. We had people weeping, crying, telling us their stories at rallies and on the doorstep. People aren’t just saying, we hope you win. They were saying you got to win.
That’s what’s disappointing today, knowing that we weren’t successful. And that’s what’s going to drive us to put aside all this back and forth with with other Conservative politicians.
There’s a lot of work for us to do, but I can tell you that that Pierre is fighting.
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