Speculations that Tony Clement will be announcing his run at the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada continue.
The Member of Parliament for the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka said he’ll be making an announcement within days.
He said he’s been talking to members of the riding as well as party members across the country while doing his own analysis on what the next leader of the party will require to be effective. He said it will require someone with some experience in government who knows how to balance budgets, someone who can also innovate the party and the way it communicates its message.
“Clearly that was not successful with large groups of people in the last federal election so those are kind of the skill sets that I believe are necessary as well as connecting us with city dwellers, with millennial voters, with first generation and new Canadians… these are going to be things that we have to do better if we’re going to be successful in the next federal election.”
He said he’s still weighing a combination of factors that will go into his final decision of whether to run for the party’s leadership but says he won’t be sitting on the fence for long.
You’ve got to, as we say around here, fish or cut bait. You’ve got to decide and give people the opportunity to have a good conversation with all the prospective candidates to make up their own mind. I really feel I owe it to the party to communicate a decision.Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement
Party members are scheduled to vote for their next leader on May 27, 2017, with each riding holding balloting locations.
Interim leader Rona Ambrose took over the reins of the party in November 2015, following the resignation of Stephen Harper as party leader. She will not be able to run as permanent leader due to her position as interim leader. So far three candidates have been confirmed. Maxime Bernier, the MP for Beauce, Quebec; Michael Chong, MP for Wellington-Halton Hills, Ontario; and Kellie Leitch MP for Simcoe-Grey, Ontario.
I think it’s important that whoever is Conservative leader does stick to some basic Conservative values that really should transcend the leadership. They’re basic things that we stand for. We believe in fiscal prudence, we believe in lower taxes where possible, we believe that government should be focused and efficient, we believe in a strong military. These are things that really I think are part and parcel of being Conservative in Canada today.
He said there are other aspects to what being Conservative means that was not discussed leading up to the election that saw Trudeau’s Liberals rise to power. “I think we really do have to talk about it if we’re going to connect with voters. We do have to have a Conservative environmental policy, we do have to have a Conservative poverty reduction strategy, we do have to have a Conservative take on Indigenous peoples and how to make their lives better in our society, and you know we do have to have a digital platform… I do believe that we too narrow-casted our message the last time and lost whole swaths of voters who were tuning us out on security and economic issues and didn’t hear us on any other issues.”
He said the party needs a “broader menu” of Conservative ideas and policies to be successful and the party needs to change the way it communicates and organizes itself.
“I was an immigrant in this country so I do believe I can speak to first generation Canadians from my perspective as someone who immigrated to this country as a young lad with my parents, I was a small business owner…. I have that commonality with many of our co-citizens… I obviously have a track record in government, including managing the Treasury for four and a half years. I know how to balance budgets, so these are all things were I to run would be things that I’d be emphasizing.”
We asked him to fast forward into the future, were he to form part of a Conservative-led government, who would he prefer to have to liaise with as leader of our neighbor to the south – Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Unfortunately, Clement politely bowed out of a response.
I wouldn’t like it if American politicians started to intervene in Canadian politics to decide what’s good for us… It would not be prudent as a Canadian politician to get yourselves embroiled in American politics so I’ll leave that to them.Clement on whether he’d endorse Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as US President
He did say he’s attending the Republican Convention in Cleveland as an observer in the same way that four years ago he attended the Democratic Convention in North Carolina.
“So I do this as an observer on a regular basis. And I’m just going to be there as a Canadian, advancing Canadian interests and Canadian values. I really have no dog in this hunt, I’m just there to express our interests and our values,” he said.
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Hopefully Tony doesn’t run, he is way over qualified for what the Canadian voters want, they prefer voting for a name not brains.
Possible names the voters would actually like: Justin Bieber, George Stroumboulopoulos, Wayne Gretzky, Clifford Olson. As the last election proved brains are not required to become Prime Minister, all that is needed is to be a good yes man, have no concept of how to balance a budget and be good at taking selfies.
Tony, Canada doesn’t need a leader, they prefer a loser.
Tony would be wise not to take the plunge & settle with his present legacy.
David, unfair comments. We got 80% dollars to build our infrastructure, that attracts tourists and sports teams to our community. 70.3, Docs on Ice, Women’s hockey to name a few.
There was no mystery with the 3 million. The debenture was just not taken out by the Town, I was part of that Council. Truly an over sight. Nothing to do with Tony.
If Tony decides to run for the Leadership of the Conservative party it will certainly raise the profile of our Communities.
I like Tony’s style I hope he runs for Prime Minister and in the future balances the budget for everyone’s good
I like Tony’s style I hope he runs for Prime Minister so we can in the future go back to a balanced budget
Let’s hope if he is the leader he manages money better then he did during the G8 fiasco. Between him and our X mayor, we the Huntsville tax payers took a horrible beating with the three million dollar mystery and our white elephant the University building.