Andrew Scheer is in a fighting mood these days, hitting out at Justin Trudeau on everything from taxes to pipelines, refugees, China and more.

As the Conservative leader sees it, the prime minister and his governing Liberals are bad, bad, bad — on all the important issues facing Canada.

Trudeau’s carbon tax plan is a disaster, the battling Scheer told a crowd of mainly Tory loyalists at a meeting recently at the Armenian Community Centre in North York.

“If Justin Trudeau is re-elected, your taxes will go up,” the fired-up Scheer said last weekend at the close of a three-day meeting in Ottawa with MPs and nominated candidates for the Oct. 21 federal election.

Indeed, with the election less than nine months away, Scheer has ratcheted up his attacks on Trudeau.

But what would Scheer do differently?

It’s a legitimate question that voters and journalists need to start asking. That’s because Conservatives are beginning to smell possible victory in the fall election, with recent polls showing them virtually tied with the Liberals.

However, Scheer, his spokespersons, and his senior MPs, are standing largely unchallenged on the sidelines while they nitpick any and every Liberal initiative without saying what they would do differently.

Carbon tax? Very bad, according to Scheer and friends. It’s not an environmental plan, but a simple cash grab, they insist. At the same time Scheer refuses to say what his alternative plan is for dealing with climate change, promising for months only that it’s “coming soon” and will “reward individual choices.”

Free trade deal? Very bad, says Scheer, adding he could have gotten more concessions from U.S. President Donald Trump. Of course, he doesn’t say how he would have done that. Would he have refused to sign the deal that Trudeau signed? He doesn’t say.

Immigration? Scheer contends Trudeau has been far too lenient in letting border-crossing asylum seekers to stay in Canada. The Tory leader told the North York crowd he would “end the problem of illegal border crossings in the first place.” What would he do? Build a wall? Again, we don’t know because Scheer won’t say.

Taxes and runaway spending? Both a mess, Scheer claims, adding the Liberals have “no plan to ever, ever, ever balance the budget.” But how will the Tories deal with taxes and the budget? Well, taxes and the deficit will be lower, but Scheer’s not telling how he will do that.

Relations with China? Mishandled, says Scheer, adding Trudeau is “too soft” on the Chinese government. He’s even accused Trudeau of engaging in a “policy of appeasement.” Again, though, no details, except to say he would be tougher. But would Scheer have ignored the U.S. request to arrest Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou?

Relations with Saudi Arabia? Mishandled, says the Tory leader. What would Scheer have done differently? Would he have soft-pedalled criticism of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi? Who knows?

East and west pipelines? Trudeau has botched the file, Scheer says. So would Scheer have just forged ahead with the pipelines over the objections of the courts, various First Nations communities and the governments of B.C. and Quebec? He won’t say.

When Scheer occasionally does take a stand, it’s often a bad or controversial one. A good example is his pledge to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel if he wins the election. It’s a promise that reverses the Conservatives’ decades-old position on Jerusalem. Former Tory prime minister Joe Clark had to make an embarrassing flip-flop in 1979 after sparking a political firestorm when he pledged to move our embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Political strategists will tell you it’s foolish to unveil a party’s policy platform until much closer to election day. Almost without exception they advise political leaders to say “Wait for our platform. All these questions will be answered then.”

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So when will Scheer unveil his platform? Next September just before the election? Why not now? Why must voters have to wait on the Conservative timetable?

It’s time Scheer stopped dismissing these voters with flimsy answers like, “we’re still working on it.” It’s time to unveil his plans for Canada.

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