The king is gone, long live the queen?

By Letter to the Editor on December 28, 2019.

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Andrew.”

“Andrew who?”

“That’s politics, let’s move on.”

Andrew Scheer has stood down as leader after a middling performance on the campaign trail, the stage is set for a new Conservative Party of Canada leader to square off against a weakened Liberal minority.

Full disclosure. In the leadership election of 2017, I supported Scheer from the first day as I saw within him the right compromise candidate to keep the party from splintering, which was my primary concern. I and many others did not feel that the Liberal party would self-wound so badly as to be within collapsing distance in 2019.

My hope was that Scheer would claw back some seats, hold the line and then gracefully exit stage right. By and large as of mid December he achieved all my expectations in those areas. What I didn’t expect was an opportunity to win in 2019.

That was Scheer’s chance to rise above my expectations and strike down the most morally bankrupt prime minister we have seen in recent memory.

Scheer failed.

After some rhetoric about staying on Scheer has taken the, in my opinion, courageous decision to stand down and pass the baton to a new leader. This is where is gets interesting.

I would have continued my support for Scheer, with reservations, but the chance to realign and reenergize against a weakened Liberal party is Christmas come early.

There are only three candidates who I feel could steer us to victory

Pierre Poilievre is the attack dog of the CPC, he is a phenomenal speaker, scathing in attack, witty, and forensic in his time as finance critic.

Peter McKay is the old hand, trusted and with a long and proud history of service to the party.

Both these candidates also have solid eastern roots which can only play well for the GTA and areas we need to win.

And then of course there is the one we, the party faithful, wanted ever since she shone through in the early days after 2015. Rona Ambrose is the one who kept the Liberals on their toes, kept morale high, and showed Canadians what real leadership would look like.

Rona, the bases are loaded, it’s time to step back onto the field and knock it out of the park.

The king has gone, long live the queen.

Myles Mulholland

Medicine Hat

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