Andrew Scheer, 1 on 1

Wayne Moore chats with Andrew Scheer, leader of the federal Conservative Party in Kelowna on Tuesday afternoon.

[Sam]

Scheer seems like a nice guy but beating Trudeau is a herculean task in comparison to the PC leadership. Fault Trudeau for deficits or whatever but somehow he is leading the country to record economic growth I think 4.3% was what I read recently. Quebec's economy is booming at a pace not seen since Montreal last hosted the Olympics - they may reach a point where they are sponsors of equalization as oppose to recipients. This will all reflect in a stronger Liberal seat count in the province in the next election which should more than make up for any seats lost in BC and Western Canada due to the pipeline bickering and carbon tax politics. Ontario is also Trudeau's actual home province (born in Ottawa) and he has record popularity there which seems to rub quite a bit off on his friend and mentor Kathleen Wynne (the Premier with the lowest personal approval rating in Canada) who is beginning to rise from the dead and may win re-election. For the Liberals if all else fails they can shift left and squeeze out NDP supporters to stay in power. Centrists can't be courted by the Conservatives like Harper did in the past if they keep denying climate change - majority of Canadians outside Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan understand it and know action needs to be proactive be it carbon pricing or a faster transition to electric vehicles and green energy.

[bluewrenreilly]

If Canada gets Andrew Scheer as prime minister instead of Trudeau they should be so lucky.!!

[Sam]

Kevin O'leary dropped out of the PC leadership for three major reasons despite being the heavy favorite:
1). He couldn't speak French and would have likely surrendered most Quebec seats to the Liberals in the federal election
2). He was promising 3% economic growth when Trudeau was already exceeding that
3). He is really a Liberal at heart and I guarantee he would have had a hard time taking stances against the current immigration situation with asylum-seekers crossing the border illegally or promoting Islamophobia motions as a free speech issue when majority of Canadians know that hate speech against Muslims will keep growing if it is not addressed. O'Leary has disappeared from the Canadian political scene since but I'm guessing the new small business tax reform may get him to speak up just like when the NDP took over Alberta and were more concerned with fighting climate change than bringing Canadian resources to market.