There are four months to go until the Conservative Party chooses its next leader, and Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong is using his economic policy to say he should fill that role.
“My vision is of a party that is much bigger than it is today and a party that can re-earn the support of Canadians living in cities, younger people and Canadians in Atlantic Canada,” he said in an interview the Advertiser.
“I think that message is resonating with Conservative Party members.”
He is one of 13 candidates who faced off in Quebec for a French debate on Jan. 17.
The other candidates are Chris Alexander, Maxime Bernier, Steven Blaney, Kellie Leitch, Pierre Lemieux, Deepak Obhrai, Kevin O’Leary (who joined the race after the debate last week), Erin O’Toole, Rick Peterson, Lisa Raitt, Andrew Saxton, Andrew Scheer and Brad Trost.
Chong is hoping his vision of the Conservative Party will be supported in the vote on May 27.
In a December poll by Forum Research, Chong was favoured among all Canadians. However, a Jan. 22 poll shows his support has dropped below O’Leary (27%), Bernier (11%) and Raitt (7%).
That poll also suggest that more than a third (38%) want someone else as leader.
Chong said he wasn’t worried.
“This is a long campaign and Conservative Party members are taking their time to make their minds up,” he said.
He added he isn’t concerned about the number of people still in the race.
“I thought it would be a race that’s wide open and that’s why we ran the campaign the way we did, which was to get in early and make the case to Conservative Party members,” said Chong.
He said he has a strong economic plan he believes will help Canadians in the next election.
“My economic platform is based on reducing income taxes. My plan is the only plan that will introduce one of the largest income tax cuts in Canadian history in the spring 2020 budget – and it’s a real plan that has been publicly praised by four different economists,” he said.
The recent Quebec debate tested candidates on their French proficiency and Chong said not being able to speak French should be a deal breaker for voters.
“Last night’s debate, more than anything else, was about whether or not the Anglophone candidates could speak French and the Conservative Party of Canada is not going to elect a unilingual leader,” he said.
“We need to have a bilingual leader … That’s a fundamental requirement of the job and it is absolutely non-negotiable.”
Chong said in addition to his economic platform, his policies on environment and democracy make him the best candidate for the job.
“We’re the only campaign that’s presented a real plan based on free market principles to reduce Canada’s emissions and we’ve presented a robust plan to strengthen our democracy by returning power back to elected MPs and to grassroots party members,” he said.
“Our policies are not extreme policies; they are policies that will appeal to the broad mainstream of Canadians in the next election.
“Other candidates are proposing policies that are going to give the next election to the Liberal Party, quite frankly.”
Chong added other candidates are “playing to people’s fears” about immigration.
“We need to learn the lessons of the last election, which is that Canadians rejected the politics of fear and the politics of division and will not vote for a party that plays to those fears,” he said.
In the wake of the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States, Chong said the Conservatives won’t win with a Trump-style of politics.
“Canada is not the United States and the Conservative Party is not the Republican Party,” he said.
“That kind of politics doesn’t work here; Canadians resoundingly rejected that in the last election.”
The addition of Kevin O’Leary to the fray on Jan. 18 does not change Chong’s campaign, he said.
“This race is a clear choice and it’s a clear choice between a circus – extreme policies and a recipe to give the next election to the Liberal Party – or a vision of a much bigger Conservative Party that is serious about economic policies, serious about environmental policy and serious about democratic reform,” he said.
“That’s my vision for the party. It’s a vision for a much bigger Conservative Party that can win in 2019.”
The next official leadership debate takes place in Edmonton on Feb. 28.
