Maguire not ready to endorse in Conservative race

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This article was published 11/03/2022 (1465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There were four declared candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership race as of Friday with another set to enter the race this weekend, but Brandon’s MP isn’t ready to endorse anyone just yet.

Pierre Poilievre was the first person to declare their candidacy for leader of the party following Erin O’Toole’s ouster. He was joined in the last week by past leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis, former federal Progressive Conservative Party leader and former Quebec premier Jean Charest and independent Ontario MPP Roman Baber.

On Thursday, the National Post reported that former Ontario Opposition Leader Patrick Brown is likely to announce his candidacy on Sunday, which would bring the total number of candidates above the four that ran last time.

Back home during a break week from duties in Ottawa, Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire told the Sun Friday that he’s encouraged by a diverse field of candidates but is waiting to see who else might throw their hat in the ring before making any endorsements.

“I think it’s a real plus for our party that there is diversity in the candidate mix that’s there, and I think there may be a few more to come in yet,” he said. “I don’t think we need 11 [candidates] like we did in 2017, but four, five, six is a good number, a manageable number.”

In the last two leadership contests, Maguire backed O’Toole.

Whomever party members choose to succeed interim leader Candice Bergen, Maguire wants someone that can accomplish two important tasks: unify the party and lead it toward defeating Justin Trudeau and the Liberals whenever Canadians head to the polls next.

“We’ve got a divisive prime minister right now in Canada and so we need leadership in the country, and the kind of leadership that can unite the country is a big issue for our party,” Maguire said. “It’s an opportunity for our party to grasp that leadership and have a leader that understands all of the issues across every region of the country.”

With those criteria in mind, Maguire spoke highly of two candidates: Poilievre and Charest.

“I know Mr. Poilievre has experience in those areas, he’s very good in question period,” he said. “Mr. Charest has the statesman-like ability of having been a Progressive Conservative leader in the ‘90s and begged to go be the premier of Quebec and left it with a balanced budget after nine years in government. He has nine years of international consulting experience now.”

He has firsthand experience with both men — Poilievre a current colleague of his and Charest the leader of the Progressive Conservatives in 1993 when Maguire ran for the party in his first stab at federal politics.

In that election, Liberal candidate Glen McKinnon eked out a victory with the right-leaning vote split between the PCs and the Reform Party.

Since O’Toole lost a leadership review earlier this year, media outlets like The Globe and Mail have run opinion pieces discussing potential fractures between the social conservative wing of the party represented by people like Poilievre and the old-style Progressive Conservative wing with social views closer to the centre.

Despite this chatter, Maguire doesn’t believe his party splitting into different entities as it did in the ‘90s is likely to occur.

“The reason is, all that does is allow Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals to win another majority government,” he said. “People here are looking for leadership that would lead to a change in government. Splitting the party, as has been done in some other areas and at some other times, only allows the Liberals to stay in power uncontested, basically. That’s why it’s so important to have a unified party going forward.”

Strong leadership, he said, is needed right now given the ongoing events in Ukraine and the knock-on agriculture and energy problems they are causing alongside other pressing issues like affordability and housing.

Maguire said he believes agriculture is a key issue for this area and Canada should prepare to be called upon to step up food production with the disruption of Ukrainian and Russian products due to the war.

The local MP praised the federal government for instituting a two-year work visa program for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. He’d also like to see Canada provide countries like Germany and Ukraine with its energy products as they try to lessen their dependency on Russian exports.

Candidates for the Conservative leadership race must declare by April 19 with the new leader to be announced on Sept. 10.

Those wishing to join the party to vote in the contest must secure their membership by June 3.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark