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Scheer, who opposes C-16, held up Peterson’s right to articulate his point of view as an example of why more incentives are needed to counteract political correctness on campus.

“People can disagree with him. People can refute his points, and stand up for what they believe in. But what bothers me is this sense of shutting out any kind of dissent on certain issues. I believe that Canada is a mature enough country that we can have these debates,” Scheer said.

Under Scheer’s proposed policy, fostering and protecting free speech would become a criterion on public post-secondary institutions’ grant applications to federal agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canada Research Chairs.

What bothers me is this sense of shutting out any kind of dissent on certain issues

The goal isn’t to create an extra layer of bureaucracy, Scheer promised. “I would instruct the minister to work with these bodies and come up with an easy way to test for it. I imagine in the early days it would be as simple as responding to complaints.”

If a university had several incidents and identified a problem on campus, it could show that it was doing something about the problem, he explained, whether pressuring student unions through financial means or putting better security plans in place.

Students, and not institutions, are often the source of controversial actions on campus — but “I do believe the university does have a responsibility to step in and prevent small rabble-rousing groups from having an impact,” said Scheer.

Groups can be loud and proud about controversial views on either end of the spectrum, as long as they don’t prevent others from exercising their rights, Scheer said. “If universities are allowing small radical groups to infringe on that, I think they have a responsibility to prevent that.”

Scheer will face fellow frontrunners including Kevin O’Leary, Maxime Bernier and Kellie Leitch at a final leadership debate in Toronto next week. A new Conservative Party leader will be chosen May 27.

Email:mdsmith@postmedia.com| Twitter:mariedanielles