LGBTory Canada congratulates Andrew Scheer, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). After a long, hard-fought, and gruelling campaign, he was elected as the new party leader yesterday in Toronto. In his victory speech, he told an enthusiastic crowd, “every single kind of conservative is welcome, and this party belongs to all of you”. These are encouraging words, and we wish Mr. Scheer good luck in achieving the ultimate goal of the CPC: forming a government in 2019.

It should be no surprise that we had reservations about Andrew Scheer as a leadership candidate. He is a social conservative who, as an MP, voted against legalizing same-sex marriage in 2005 and in 2016 voted against Bill C16, which extended civil rights and criminal code protections to transgender Canadians.

However, when questioned after delegates removed objections to same-sex marriage from the party’s policy declaration at the 2016 convention in Vancouver by a vote of 70% to 30%, Mr. Scheer stated that he would focus on issues that unite Conservatives, not divide them, and that he would not “revisit or re-open” divisive social issues.