A local Conservative supporter is happy that Regina MP Andrew Scheer was elected as the new leader of the federal party over the weekend in Toronto.
Randy Schiller of Weyburn attended the convention along with Souris-Moose Mountain MP Dr. Robert Kitchen and Kitchen’s daughter, Kathryn Gilliss, and worked on Scheer’s election committee.
Scheer served for a time as Speaker of the House of Commons, and was one of 13 candidates vying for the leadership of the Official Opposition party, emerging as the winner after 13 ballots were held in voting by delegates at the convention, held in downtown Toronto’s Congress Centre. Scheer ended with 51 per cent of the votes to 49 per cent for Maxime Bernier.
“I’m happy for him that he won,” Schiller said in an interview, who noted he drove to Toronto to enjoy a vacation time while he was in the area. “I was hoping he would win either on the first or sixth ballot, but he was behind the entire time.”
Schiller questioned the status accorded to candidate Maxime Bernier as the front-runner of the leadership race, suggesting that the mainstream media labeled him that way. He said it was nice to see that two candidates from Saskatchewan were in the top five out of the list of 13 running for the top spot.
He found the convention was “very exciting”, although he missed the speeches on Friday evening due to the traffic between his hotel and the convention centre.
“I think he’s going to do really well. I know before we first announced he was running that he had the most MPs backing him. Nearer the end, I’m not sure if there was support from the other MPs,” said Schiller.
He noted that Dr. Kitchen was a supporter of Erin O’Toole, but when O’Toole dropped off the ballot, a lot of his supporters went to Scheer.
The new leader will do well in his new role, said Schiller, and added, “We firmly expect Andrew to be the next prime minister of Canada.”
Overall, Schiller said he found the atmosphere very open and friendly at the convention and very positive, with people open to discussing the issues with each other.
Scheer was back in Ottawa on Monday to meet with Conservative caucus, and was in the House of Commons for his first session as the new party leader and head of the Opposition.
