A ndrew Scheer is quickly emerging as the consensus candidate that many card-carrying CPC members are looking for. After a series of strong debate performances, Scheer has rocketed up the list of Poletical’s leadership tracker, where he regularly battles for top spot. And why shouldn’t he? He’s young, smart, articulate, bilingual, and solidly conservative. The aftermath of the election in 2015 led many Conservative voters to believe that what the party needed was simply a change in tone. A “Harper 2.0” is a strong option in this race and a legitimate path to victory. Is Andrew Scheer the guy we want? Is he the guy we need?





Read on...









H odgson : Thanks for talking with us today. What are you hearing on your travels?





S cheer : People are finding my approach refreshing and exciting and optimistic. My whole theme is that we need a leader that can keep the party united and focused on bringing conservatives together and articulate a positive message that will reach a broader audience.





Conservatives know our policies help lift people out of poverty, create prosperity and economic growth and they want a leader that can articulate that vision for the country.





Hodgson : Why do you want to do this? What drives you?





Scheer : I can’t let Justin Trudeau do to my kids what his father did to my generation. I have five young kids and if we don’t do something we’ll have deficits in this country until 2055 . This will saddle them with a massive amount of debt. This is intergenerational theft. It infuriates me.





Hodgson : You’re planning to balance the budget within two years of winning the 2019 election, is that correct?





Scheer : Yes.





Hodgson : How are you going to do that?





Scheer : We need to control spending. The Liberals spent billions outside of Canada and no jobs are here to show for it. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has indicated that no jobs are linked to any of their deficit spending. The Liberals went from taking Harper’s surplus and ran a $30 billion deficit in one year. With a Conservative approach we can get back to balanced budgets and an aggressive target is very important.





I know what it’s like with bureaucracies and government departments...if they think they have all the time in the world, they won’t sharpen their pencils and do the hard work to get back to balanced budgets. I’ve signed onto the aggressive two-year target for a reason...when I become Prime Minister, everyone will know that this is a priority.





Hodgson : We write a lot about the liberal media bias at Poletical and the next Conservative leader is going to have to deal with this issue. What is your plan for this problem?





Scheer : First, we have to understand that we’re not going to get the same balance from the media that the Liberals will get. They’re already using liberal language, for example they’re already calling the carbon tax a “price on carbon pollution”. We know it’s not a price on carbon, it’s a tax.



