Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says the academic freedom controversy at Wilfrid Laurier University is "precisely" why he proposed during the Tory leadership campaign to withhold federal funds from universities that restrict free speech.

But in an interview with The Andrew Lawton Show on 980 CFPL in London, Ont. Tuesday, Scheer suggested he wouldn't intervene in the Laurier case if he were prime minister.

Lawton referenced how Laurier teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd was recently "censored" for showing students a clip of a debate on gender-neutral pronouns that aired on TVOntario and featured controversial University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, who refuses to use pronouns other than "he" or "she."

The reason why I proposed this idea in the leadership campaign is precisely for the types of things that are happening on campus and specifically what happened to Lindsay Shepherd.Andrew Scheer

Shepherd surreptitiously recorded a meeting with other faculty where she says she was criticized for not condemning Peterson's views and creating a "toxic" learning environment.

In clips released to Global News and the National Post, Shepherd can be heard arguing that universities should be places where all opinions are up for debate. She is told by a superior that her neutral approach to Peterson was comparable to being neutral about views espoused by Adolf Hitler.

Laurier President Deborah MacLatchy has since released a statement apologizing to Shepherd.

Scheer argued during the Tory leadership race that free speech was "under attack" on university campuses, with certain topics and speakers deemed out of bounds. He pledged that, if elected prime minister, he would withhold federal grants from institutions that do not foster an environment of open expression and inquiry.

Lawton asked Scheer if the Laurier case might fit the bill.

"The reason why I proposed this idea in the leadership campaign is precisely for the types of things that are happening on campus and specifically what happened to Lindsay Shepherd, as you mentioned, a grad student who had the audacity to show her students both sides of a debate on a current issue, on something that was before Parliament just recently," he said.

Listen to a clip from Lawton's show: