TORONTO — In spite of a persistent drag on his polling numbers, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he won’t change direction.

After getting mostly friendly questions at a Ryerson University event hosted by the school’s Campus Conservatives club on Monday, Scheer was hit with a blunt one.

“The Conservatives are pretty weak,” said a man who expressed a desire to see a Tory government in Ottawa. “What’s the plan right now? And when you realize you’re going to lose with your plan, what’s the back-up plan?”

Scheer — who was on stage with former Conservative leadership contender-turned Maxine Bernier supporter-turned Scheer supporter, Kevin O’Leary — rejected the question’s premise, saying he’d stick to his guns.

“I see us winning, and I don’t know what it is that you’re talking about,” Scheer replied. “You can look at one poll and say, ‘Well, you know, today is not so good.’ I don’t look at polls; polls go up and polls go down. I look at results. And when you look at the signature policy pieces of this government, we’ve destroyed them.”

Scheer said that on key policies such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax, the Tories have out-communicated the government and “destroyed their credibility.” And he pointed out that his party is outpacing all others in fundraising.

But since the summer, polls have put the Liberals consistently ahead of the Conservatives. A Nanos poll released the day after Scheer’s talk in Toronto showed the Liberals with an eight-point lead over the Tories, with a three-point margin of error.

CBC’s poll tracker shows that’s consistent with other recent polls from Abacus Data and Mainstreet Research.

But Scheer was undeterred this week, telling the crowd he’s sticking to his guns.

“We’re beating them at the place that matters the most, and that’s at the ballot box. We just won a byelection in a part of Quebec that we haven’t won since 1997. So, you know, I’m looking at the plan that we’re executing and I see success.”

In June, Conservative candidate Richard Martel captured 53 per cent of the vote in a federal byelection held in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, beating Liberal Lina Boivin by more than 5,000 votes.

Pollsters say Scheer is taking the right approach.

“He doesn’t need to change tack; there’s still lots of time,” Nanos Research founder Nik Nanos told iPolitics, adding all Scheer has to do is avoid making “major mistakes that will affect his ability to grow his support.”

Historically, the Conservatives rarely sink lower than the high 20s in the polls, so Scheer’s support will likely grow when voters being tuning in to next year’s federal election, Nanos said.

Ipsos Public Affairs CEO Darrell Bricker said he believes the distance between the Conservatives and Liberals is less pronounced. His firm’s most recent poll from last month shows a tie between the two parties.

But more important than the horserace, according to Bricker, is where the parties stand on the biggest issues identified by Canadians. On that front, Scheer and his party are outpacing Trudeau’s Liberals, he believes.

Of the most important issue identified by voters — health care — Bricker says the Liberals are considered the most capable managers. But of the three next most important topics — taxes, the economy and immigration — the Conservatives are viewed as the best managers. The Liberals, meanwhile, own the fifth-most important issue: the environment and climate change.

“The Conservatives are looking reasonably good, and that is in the face of the fact that they have a leader that virtually nobody knows,” Bricker said.

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