Echoing policies of U.S. President Donald Trump and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer promised Tuesday to slash federal regulations by 25 per cent if his party forms Canada's next government.

Speaking at Cracker Jacks Bar & Grill in Thorold during a campaign stop Tuesday morning, Scheer said if he becomes the next prime minister he would also require the government to cut two regulations for every new one it creates.

"We will tackle the burdensome layers of bureaucratic red tape. It's the biggest complaint I hear from small business owners," Scheer said. "The rat's nest of policies and process that bog down businesses and slow growth, many of them outdated and out of step with reality."

The Tory leader said regulations will be cut by 25 per cent over a four-year period and he will assign a minister, who will report directly to him, to "cut job-killing regulations."

A two-for-one deregulation policy was enacted by Trump as an executive order in 2017 as a broad stroke, anti-red tape measure. Since then, the Trump administration has slashed many regulations, including some focused on clean water and air.

In Ontario, Ford made a 25 per cent cut in regulations a key policy measure last year to support small- and medium-sized businesses.

Scheer said he would target regulations that are "effectively useless," outdated, are duplicated by other regulations or stymy businesses.

"I am confident that we can give to one of the ministers this mandate … to eliminate those regulations that add cost without any benefit," he said. "Obviously, with protecting the environment, protecting health and safety, those are things we want to make sure are there and are strong and that work."

Scheer does not have a specific list of regulations he wants to cut, saying a full review of all federal regulations must happen first.

Slashing red tape has been a red meat issue for Conservatives for years, harkening back to the Red Tape Commission of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris in the 1990s, which was set up to slash what his government said were overbearing regulations. That deregulation push was blamed, in part, for setting up conditions that in 2000 led to tainted water in Walkerton that killed seven people.

Although a political hobby-horse for the Tories, deregulation isn't always a partisan issue. The Ontario governments of NDP premier Bob Rae and Liberal Dalton McGuinty, along with the federal Liberals under Jean Chretien, all engaged in red-tape cutting initiatives.

Retired Brock University political science professor David Siegel said deregulation is an issue political parties come back to time and again because it makes for easy political fodder.

Beyond the rhetoric, however, Siegel said governments have to be careful about how they cut and change the rules. Aiming to cut a percentage of all regulations may be a blunt force approach that doesn't consider important details.

"Certainly, we should be looking at the type and number of regulations that are in place at any point in time, because some of them are indeed relics of a bygone age, but you have to be very cautious about what you cut," he said. "Many regulations, particularly those that have to do with environmental protection and health, were put in place for good reasons."

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Scheer had been in St. Catharines Monday evening, where he made a stop at the Cat's Caboose bar on Glenridge Avenue.

His primary opponent, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was also in Niagara Monday, visiting a bakery in Niagara Falls. Trudeau did not take questions or make announcements during that stop.