Saskatchewan Q&A

'My goal is to put the nastiness aside': Andrew Scheer on leading the Conservative Party

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Scheer hopes to unite Conservatives across the country under his leadership

Andrew Scheer speaks after winning the leadership at the Conservative Party of Canada leadership convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 27, 2017. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Andrew Scheer was named leader of the Conservative Party in May. From Speaker of the House of Commons, to the leader of the Official Opposition — it's been quite a journey for a guy from Regina.

Andrew Scheer was home in his riding of Regina Qu'Appelle this week and sat down with The Morning Edition host Stefani Langenegger to discuss his first months in office, and how he plans to lead the Conservative party into the future.

You've gone from a neutral chair as Speaker of the House of Commons to Conservative party leader. How has that transition been?

I've always been very passionate about issues.

Being speaker, you kind of have to park the positions on issues and focus more on the rules. I was able to do that by focusing on the individuals. So I disagreed with a lot of the NDP and Liberal members of parliament, but as I got to know them as individuals, I realized that when they left their families behind at 6 a.m. to catch a flight to come to Ottawa, they were truly doing what they thought was best for Canada.

Those are the types of things that bring all parliamentarians together, which is building a better country. Now back in this position, it's now back to the issues and the substance. I've always enjoyed that aspect of politics. I enjoy the debate.

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When we look at the political debate in other countries, [they can] devolve to personal smear attacks and off of the issues that matter. My goal is to put the nastiness aside. I've talked a lot during the leadership campaign about having a positive vision for the country, that that's what Canadians will find resonates with them. I think that's our path to victory, not nasty attacks.

Shortly after the leadership race that you won, the FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said you hadn't done enough to engage with First Nations as a Saskatchewan MP. What have you done as leader to address that?

I certainly reject the premise of that question.

I've got 12 reserves in my riding, and have always been very available, and worked very diligently on a few files. I've been out any time there is major events. So I've always had an open door policy with the chiefs and individuals on- and off-reserve.

Perry Bellegarde is from my riding. He's from one of the reserves up near Balcarres, Sask. We've always had a good dialogue. I'll be attending the Assembly of First Nations meeting starting (Tuesday). I think the Conservative Party has a great story to tell when it comes to relationships with First Nations. I want to be part of the solution-identifying process, talking about: 'what are the practical things that we can achieve that the Conservatives can offer?' And that starts now.

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What does reconciliation mean to you?

I think reconciliation is two parts: one is to acknowledge what happened in the past, and the second part is moving forward.

How do we address that? It's important to have almost a cathartic expression of the types of issues that had negatives impacts on groups of people, but if it doesn't come with a path forward, then there's not much progress to be made. And it's not going to come just from the government. It can't just be more dollars on cheques. It has to have a meaningful partnership with First Nations leaders. It has to be about integration into the economy and developing economic opportunities.

I want to be partners in prosperity for not only people living on-reserve, but off-reserve as well.

Show more Andrew Scheer speaks with CBC Saskatchewan News' Jill Morgan 11:06

What's one specific thing that the government could do?

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One of the things I've noticed even in the short time being in a leadership position, is, sometimes, the voices in the First Nations side that are against development projects, get the most attention. There are a lot of reserves across the country that do partner with natural resource companies, and do partner with extraction companies or pipeline projects. They do so in a way that benefits their people. They have jobs available to them, or they get revenue from the projects.

Sometimes their voice isn't heard. I want to make sure that we have a balanced approach that takes into account the very legitimate concerns that First Nations communities express about everything from traditional lands, to environmental stewardship, but always with a view towards increasing opportunities for all Canadians really, but especially when it comes to these issues, for First Nations communities.

Saskatchewan has a longstanding beef with the equalization formula — and the way it handles a resource such as hydro — compared to oil-producing provinces like this one. What will you do about that?

I've had the opportunity to talk about equalization with Premier Wall several times over the last few years. It ebbs and flows depending on the various economic conditions both here in Western Canada, and in other places. I think that there are some easy to address frustrations that exist in the formula — the first is the time lag that it takes to recalculate.

We live in a world now where there's real-time economic data, with a couple keystrokes you can have at-your-fingertip information. Bringing that time lag down to a matter of days, or a matter of weeks, or at least a fiscal quarter — instead of the years that it is taking -- I think that's something that makes sense. It's a principle of natural justice and something that I think we could implement.

We want to make sure that equalization is there for provinces that need it. Like Saskatchewan, we've been beneficiaries of it for many, many years. We pay into it, we receive from it. So we have to keep that as a point of context. When we go into these conversations, I think we have to talk about some fundamental benchmarks that if provinces go off the rails, that they're not able to unduly benefit from a new formula.

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The province has been cutting programs — in health care and education — to deal with its deficit. Is that something you'd recommend on the federal level?

I believe very firmly that we can get to balanced budgets without raising taxes and without cutting transfers to the provinces or to individuals.

You'll remember that when the Liberals balanced the budget in the '90s, they did it on the backs of the provinces. They slashed healthcare transfers, and other types of spending that went right into services.

When you look at what the Liberals spent money on since they've been elected, it's billions of dollars that much of it hasn't even been spent in Canada. They're doing it while raising taxes. I believe it's hampering our economic growth. The International Monetary Fund says the economy is growing, but a lot of reports are indicating it's in spite of the Liberal government, not because of. I think there are ways that we can come in and help stimulate the economy and cut some of the wasteful spending that's been going on that's not benefiting Canadians.

Note: This Q & A has been edited for context and clarity.

With files from CBC Radio's The Morning Edition