A CONVERSATION WITH JAMIE SCHMALE

By Kirk Winter

Newly-re-elected Member of Parliament for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock Jamie Schmale sat down with me for almost 90 minutes to share his insights about federal election day in this riding, Peterborough-Kawartha, and coast-to-coast.

When asked what factors contributed to him winning re-election in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, Schmale shared the following about his second successful election run. He said, “The campaign took nothing for granted, and I ran believing that no outcome was certain.” With the help of 75 committed volunteers Schmale believes “they pressed hard for people’s support, knocking on hundreds of doors.”

Schmale suggested that the Conservative message of affordability and lower taxes resonated with voters in the riding looking for fiscal relief. He also said that people “seem to be happy with the service that they get at his constituency office,” and he thinks local voters appreciate how available he is for public events right across his geographically huge riding.

Schmale has put his name forward to Andrew Scheer to once again serve in the Shadow Cabinet as the Deputy Critic for Natural Resources, but as of right now nothing has been decided.

When asked what Conservative priorities will be during the next session, Schmale hopes “that all parties could work together for the good of the nation.” He said the Conservatives “will put a wish list forward to the government and hope that at least some of their ideas will be adopted.” Jamie believes that the Conservative priorities will focus around affordability and lowering taxes. His personal priorities “will be to push for the Lake Simcoe cleanup fund to be re-instated, and ensuring that the Liberals keep their promise to expand high speed Internet access in rural Ontario.”

When asked to comment on what happened in Peterborough-Kawartha, Schmale was very sad that the Conservative candidate Mike Skinner was unsuccessful in unseating Liberal incumbent Maryam Monsef. He said that Skinner put his “heart and soul” into this election run “putting his own business life on hold to campaign.” Schmale hopes that Skinner will run again and that he will be more successful next time around.

When asked to comment on Elizabeth May’s retirement, Schmale was very complementary, suggesting that May is “turning a page in the next chapter in her life.” He feels her immediate resignation will give the Green Party a chance to re-organize and elect a new leader without rushing. Schmale thinks she might make an excellent Speaker of the House and wonders if that would be a position she would be interested in.

When asked to address disappointing Conservative results in Canada’s three largest cities, Schmale said he “was shocked.” He thought “they had a program and they will definitely be doing a debrief to figure out what happened.”

When the questioning moved to the Conservatives being shut out in Metro Toronto, Schmale shared “that they will be talking to defeated candidates to get feedback. They will then be doing a deep analysis to figure out what went wrong.”

I asked Schmale whether Premier Ford’s exclusion from events with Andrew Scheer in Ontario was a wise choice. He shared, “Regardless of what decision we made, the media would second guess it.” When asked to comment on the use of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney as a campaign surrogate in Ford’s place, Schmale said, “Kenney had done significant outreach to New Canadian voters while serving in Prime Minister Harper’s cabinet and it was believed he could be a real help in Ontario.”

I asked Schmale if he agreed with former Progressive Conservative leader Peter McKay’s analysis of the election when McKay said the party “missed an empty net on a clear breakaway.” He said, “it was unfortunate that McKay had used that kind of language but he accepted McKay’s frustration. Many thought Trudeau was down and out after multiple cases of black face.”

We then spoke of articles coming from traditional Conservative media outlets like the Globe and Mail and the National Post that have labelled Andrew Scheer unelectable because of his social conservatism. Schmale said clearly that Scheer “should have answered the questions posed better, and he should have been clear about his beliefs right from the beginning.”

The Conservative Party will be having a leadership review in April and Macleans Magazine suggested that Scheer could have problems winning an overwhelming enough majority to avoid becoming a lame duck leader. Schmale believes that “members will have time to think and reflect. Being leader is not an easy job and I believe Scheer will receive a strong show of support at the leadership review.”

Schmale refused to speculate what the magic number would be for a level of support that would allow Scheer to stay on and remain an effective leader.

I asked Mr. Schmale if the Conservatives could continue to be a viable party, particularly in urban areas, with what the National Post calls “no real plan” for climate change. He said he was “happy with the party’s environmental plan because it avoided more government involvement in the economy.” He added, “Canada is a large country with cold weather and people need to heat their homes and drive. As a nation we need whatever this new technology is to be affordable for all, and habits need to change based on affordable options which currently don’t exist.”

We began to wrap up our conversation by talking about the influence the People's Party had on the election. Schmale agreed that Maxime Bernier’s nascent party “likely cost the Conservatives 5 to 7 seats.” When asked if he expects the party to be around to contest the next election, Schmale said, “I don’t know. We hope to bring those libertarian votes back because they are an important voice that needs to be represented within the Conservative Party.” Jamie hopes the Conservatives “can find common ground with the 300,000 voters who backed Bernier before the next election.”

Our last discussion focused on how long this minority government might last. When asked if 22 to 24 months sounded about right based on recent history, Schmale didn’t want to speculate. He hoped for the sake of the Canadian electorate and parties who need to raise money, pay off old election debts and rest volunteers the next election is still a while off. Schmale does not expect the minority government to fall in December at the reading of the Throne Speech and expects the real give and take to begin in Parliament in the New Year.