Scheer must go

Andrew Scheer is the first leader of a major political party in modern Canadian history to lose personal popularity during an election. He lost popularity against the economically insane, fear mongering, scandal ridden, blackface wearing, deficit increasing, carbon tax imposing, Justin Trudeau. Now he is claiming that Justin Trudeau is scared of him and that any challenge to his leadership helps the Liberals. That is absurd.

The truth is that the only people who are afraid of Andy are his staff and caucus. I don’t know a single Liberal who isn’t giddy at the idea of running another campaign against him. In fact, behind closed doors they all tell me they hope we fail to get rid of him.

Politics has always been a war of words and ideas. Scheer’s team is attempting a series of arguments to convince conservatives that he should be allowed a second chance.

Here are the arguments and why they are wrong:

1: An Andrew Scheer led Conservative Party of Canada brought Justin Trudeau down to a minority government.

The Bloc Quebecois are the reason that Justin Trudeau does not have a majority government. Had they not surged during the campaign, Justin Trudeau would be leading a majority government right now.

2: Andrew Scheer is like Stephen Harper and deserves a second chance.

I can’t believe I have to say this. Andrew Scheer is not Stephen Harper. He’s not even Manchester’s top Stephen Harper tribute band. Stephen Harper stood for things. Stephen Harper united the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Parties and then won the leadership of that new party by 56.2% on the first ballot. Andrew Scheer couldn’t eke out a lead during his leadership race until the 14^th ballot.

3. The only reason we lost was the media and the unions.

Are you suggesting that in the next election the media and the unions will stop attacking Conservatives? A leader doesn’t blame external events for his/her failure. They take responsibility and then articulate a path to success. Andrew Scheer has failed to do this.

4. If not Andrew Scheer, then who?

This is probably, on its face, the strongest argument for keeping Andrew Scheer. We are conservatives after all. We don’t like change and we are afraid of things getting worse. Well, they can’t get worse. During the election, the more Canadians got to know Andrew the less they liked him.  We owe our party donors, volunteers, and candidates at least a chance at victory. Andrew Scheer will never beat Justin Trudeau. The left doesn’t just hate him, Canadians in general don’t like him.

5. Andrew Scheer won the popular vote. He got more votes than any Conservative Leader in Canadian history!

Come on. Does anyone actually know someone who voted for Andrew Scheer himself? Someone who otherwise would not have voted conservative but was so compelled by their love for Andrew Scheer to mark an X on their ballot? No. The only reason the CPC won the popular vote is because Westerners hate Justin Trudeau with such a fiery passion that they would have voted for anyone.

6. You are dividing the party! We must stay united under the strong leadership of Andrew Scheer or the Liberals could win a majority.

The party is not divided. In fact, I am finding it very difficult to find anyone outside of staff and caucus and close personal friends who will even admit to supporting the guy. Andrew Scheer is a unifier; he is unifying people across the conservative political spectrum against his leadership.  The only current division in our party is between those who stand to benefit from his continued leadership with jobs and titles, and the rest of us who want to win government.

7. Andrew Scheer is the best that social conservatives will get. If he loses, the Red Tories will take over the party.

The most important question that social conservatives need to ask is whether or not Andrew Scheer can win the next election. If he can, then their support for him makes sense. If he can’t, then imagine the backlash they will receive if they supported him again and he failed to deliver victory. I think you all know in your heart of hearts that Andrew Scheer will not win and that it is time to find a new candidate you can support instead of further escalating the resentment towards social conservatives in the party.

We can do better. Let us not allow the fear mongers to tell us we can’t. If you doubt me, the next time Andrew Scheer is giving a speech on TV, or your mobile phone, or computer screen. Turn off the sound. Simply watch his delivery. You’ll quickly come to realize why Canadians will never connect with him. He just doesn’t have what it takes.