Andrew Scheer has to create a confident and self-assured personality that Canadians can resonate with – one they will respect even if they do not agree with some of his own personal values

UP UNTIL TODAY I have purposely decided not to comment on the election campaign we were just subjected too, and in particular the Conservative campaign.

YES ... subjected!

This morning however I was reading a few letters from readers of MacLean’s, and one in particular struck me.  In their letter they stated:

"None of our political leaders are statesmen with clear and inspiring national visions that unite Canadians. Instead, voters are bartered in an open political market where myopic promises are traded for votes—a choice as appealing as a Big Mac to vegans. The choices before voters are stunningly vacuous, if not perilous."

While I am not so sure that ‘vacuous’ would be the best descriptive for Election 43 ... ‘disappointing’ would certainly fill the bill

Leaders of all parties, to some degree, promised the moon and beyond in their spending promises –far too many of which intruded into provincial jurisdictions.

What this election turned out to be -- mainly for the Liberals, NDP, and Green Party -- was an auction where each of the parties became engaged in a frenzied bidding war to see who could spend more and more non-existent monies, that we as taxpayers would ultimately be responsible for.

Far too many bought the promises of lavish spending hook, line, and sinker.

The campaign however was also an attack on the social values of the Conservative Party leader ... Andrew Scheer.  He was not prepared to fight this attack with a well-thought response, and because of this, the people in and around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) voted for the Liberals and to a smaller extent the NDP ... and in Quebec (one of the most sectarian regions of our country), increased support to the Bloc.

NO PARTY had a strong campaign of well-thought-out policies that Canadians could look to and agree with.  No, instead we had a guerilla war of attack ads by each party.

We had the typical 15 to 30 second sound bites of comment deliberately designed to create controversy, sizzle rather than substance, photo ops, and the like. 

The lack of substance, at least to me, was disgusting.

Already we have Elizabeth May announcing she won’t run again as party leader in the next federal election, but that was already known. 

Maxime Bernier’s People Party of Canada will disappear after one campaign, much as the Progressive Democratic Alliance did in British Columbia, and Paul Hellyer’s Canadian Action Party did federally – one election and gone.

Jagmeet Singh will likely get another chance under the NDP banner, however the party has fallen steadily in support, and seat count, since the heyday of the late Jack Layton.  One more election is about all they have to rebound; if not, they’ll be lost as a party for a generation, while support continues to drift to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, and the Greens.

Trudeau will remain to try and remove the stain and scars he suffered over the past year ... and hope the memories of voters, looking for the latest craze and fad, return to him.

Which leaves Andrew Scheer ... who I spoke of earlier.

Next April he will come under scrutiny of Conservative Party members, in a leadership review – but as all of you are well aware, rumblings to replace him had already begun when election results were becoming clear after polls closed ten days ago.

The fault was not with Scheer alone, but also the team at the top who developed the election strategy –however, Andrew Scheer has to take responsibility for to a large degree.

Scheer has a little over 5 months to turn things around.

He has to create a confident and self-assured personality that Canadians can resonate with – one they will respect even if they do not agree with some of his own personal values.

On those personal social values, Scheer will have to develope sincere responses that will quell concerns he is about to turn the clock back on LGBTQ2S issues ... on abortion rights ... and so-called family values.  Those rabid individuals who will scream the sky is falling, no matter what, will never be changed.  It is the quiet majority however that Scheer will have to convince.

And one last thing ... the Conservative Party of Canada must begin now, to show they are worthy of our vote in the next election.

That can’t be done through attacks ... that can’t be done through being evasive ... and that can’t be done through poor parliamentary decorum.

They Conservatives will have to show they are a government in waiting that is prepared for the needs of Canadians here at home, and on the national stage ... one with reasoned substance.