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Moe is down in Washington, meeting with any politician he can — including U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross — to make the case of the integrated North American economy.

Of course, many will make the easy argument that a premier of a small Canadian province of a million people meeting with bit players in U.S. politics will have no direct impact on U.S. President Donald Trump. On the surface, this is so, but understand that it is the duty of every politician to do what they can in the economic and other interests of their constituents.

And further understand that any influence any Canadian has will have to be on the local level in one-on-one conversations. Given that Scheer and other Conservatives do have relationships with U.S. Republicans, one might think this is where they also could be helpful.

At the very least, one might think the conservative-minded in Canada would stand up their philosophical principles, which clearly include free trade.

This has been the case for many, including Wall, who in his social media feeds has diligently reminded others how conservative icons like Republican President Ronald Reagan were free traders and has eagerly taken on his Conservative partisans who can’t get past their hatred of Trudeau to see the bigger picture.

It’s a level of political maturity we are not seeing from Scheer and his Conservative caucus — rather ironic, given that Conservatives were arguing long before the Harper government’s 2015 defeat that Trudeau is not mature enough to govern the country.

That Scheer doesn’t get Trudeau’s anti-tariff strategy — a bipartisan one, developed in consultation with conservative-minded trade specialists who recognize what’s at stake and how targeted retaliation is the best Canadian strategy — is troubling.

It’s hard to see how Scheer is helping anyone in this trade fight.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post.

mmandryk@postmedia.com