BRAMPTON—The Scheer campaign was somewhere around Mississauga when Premier Doug Ford’s absence became conspicuous.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer spent the early days of the federal election campaign stumping in Ford country — Vaughan and Mississauga, Etobicoke and Brampton.

All places Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won big in 2018 on their way to a majority government. All places Scheer’s Conservatives likely need to win a majority of their own.

But despite their common fight against Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s policies, Scheer and Ford appear determined to keep out of each other’s way in the lead up to the Oct. 21 vote.

When asked whether Trudeau or Ford was the bigger barrier to his success in Ontario, the Conservative leader opted to talk about former provincial Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne instead.

“The barrier to the success of the people of Ontario is Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau is running the exact same playbook that the Kathleen Wynne Liberals ran here for so many years,” said Scheer told reporters in Mississauga Friday morning.

But Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, another vocal Trudeau opponent, has indicated he’ll be helping Scheer’s Conservative candidates get elected. Why accept his help but not Ford’s?

“That’s just completely false,” Scheer said, again avoiding mentioning Ford by name. “We’re going to be all over the province of Ontario and the people who have worked to replace Liberals at the provincial level are obviously going to work to replace Liberals at the federal level.”

Federal Conservatives have said for months that they worry the unpredictable premier could drag down their numbers in Ontario, an all-important province in their bid for government. With Queen’s Park on hiatus, the Scheer campaign at least avoids the daily headlines and not-infrequent controversies that have characterized the early days of Ford’s government.

But Scheer is likely to continue to face questions about Ford’s involvement or lack thereof in his Ontario campaign, particularly as the Liberal party’s war room is anxious to paint the two with the same brush.

Scheer’s swing through the GTA included an announcement in Mississauga Friday that he would bring back a Harper-era tax credit for commuters who pay for transit passes. The “Green Public Transit Tax Credit” is almost identical to a policy the previous Conservative government introduced in 2006 – granting a 15 per cent tax credit on money spent on transit passes, to encourage Canadians to use public transit.

It didn’t succeed. A review by the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer suggested the tax credit gave a “marginal” boost to transit ridership — at best. But the same analysis found that 1.2 million Canadians paid additional taxes in 2018 as a result of the Liberals decision to cut the tax credit. On average, that decision cost those taxpayers an additional $137 in federal taxes per year.

The Scheer campaign is in Ottawa Saturday, with a rally planned for Kanata candidate Justina McCaffrey. From there, the Conservatives head to British Columbia, with a planned run through the Prairie provinces early next week.

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