REGINA - Federal Conservative leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis kicked off her latest campaign swing of Saskatchewan with a meet and greet in Regina Tuesday afternoon.
Conservative supporters filled the meeting room at the Sandman Hotel to hear Lewis, the MP for Haldimand-Norfolk, make her pitch for change in Ottawa.
“We have to do things differently,” Lewis told the audience. “We can no longer adopt an Ottawa-knows-best approach, it’s not working. And the only way to change that is to go to the grassroots and hear from everyday Canadians about what’s on their heart. And what I am hearing is that the fabric of our nation is falling apart.”
Lewis pulled no punches in her Regina appearance when it came to discussing hot button topics. The issues Lewis spoke about included opposition to vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions, standing up to cancel culture and identity politics, and a pro-life stance on the abortion issue.
But Lewis also offered a unifying message on those issues, speaking against the “social divides that our dividing our country.” She also voiced opposition to the “Liberal-NDP coalition that we did not vote for,” and added “the only way to get them out is to have a united and strong Conservative party and get a majority at the next election.”
Lewis also took questions, and then greeted a lengthy lineup of supporters before heading off to her next Saskatchewan event in Saskatoon on Thursday evening. Lewis is also scheduled for another campaign event in Lloydminster on Friday evening.
Saskatchewan is seen as a potential area of strength for Lewis when votes in the leadership contest are counted in September. In the 2020 leadership race in which she finished third behind Erin O’Toole and Peter MacKay, Lewis finished first among party members voting within the province of Saskatchewan.
This time, Lewis faces a particular challenge from the Pierre Poilievre campaign, which is believed to be doing well in Saskatchewan with endorsements from MPs such as former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer. Also running are Jean Charest, Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber.
Confidence from Lewis about campaign in Saskatchewan
In speaking to SASKTODAY.ca after her Regina event, Lewis voiced optimism about her prospects in the race, and is pleased by the response she has gotten so far in Saskatchewan.
“It’s been awesome. The reception has been overwhelming and that was expected, because the people of Saskatchewan, their values really resonate with me and mine with them, and so I’ve been really well received here. I believe the people are hungry for a leader that will stand up and will address some of the issues that are of concern to them.”
Among the topics Lewis spoke about in Regina were farm issues. Lewis voiced concerns about the impact of net-zero policies on farmers — an issue that has prompted protests elsewhere such as in the Netherlands.
“Many farmers have come out today, and some of them are in tears and they’re very very concerned about some of the policies that are going to be affecting their livelihood and also the ability for them to provide food for our food supply chain.”
Lewis also pledged to “cancel the Carbon Tax,” another hot issue for Saskatchewan voters. She instead voiced support for incentives and innovative policies to reduce carbon emissions.
Harsh words about the media
Lewis did not shy away from addressing some other issues at the event. One topic she spoke about was the trucker’s convoy, during which she called out the mainstream media for their account of the protests.
“All you expected was your media to give you honest coverage,” Lewis said. “But instead you heard things like ‘oh it's influenced by Russians,’ and then we find out that’s not true. We heard there were acts to overthrow the government and then we saw that the individuals were only charged with mischief. That's bad reporting. It leads to distrust in Canadians for the media."
It was not only Lewis who singled out the media. Among those in the audience was Regina Ward 7 Councillor Terina Shaw, who has come under the media microscope herself for questions she had posed about Indigenous people during a June council meeting on homelessness.
“I have been trashed in the media for false accusations for the questions I am asking,” Shaw said during the question and answer session.
“The people that know me, the people that talk to me on the phone, they know where my heart is, they know where I am, and that’s OK. On a municipal level I’m OK.”
But Shaw expressed even more concerns about the media coverage at the federal level, pointing to what happened when Andrew Scheer was leader during the 2019 election.
“He wasn’t fighting against (Justin) Trudeau, he was fighting against the media,” Shaw said, who added “I am fearful that an election may not be won based on the truth, but based on what the media thinks and says.”
“I do believe the legacy media has become an arm of the Liberal government,” Lewis responded. “We need to have an independent media.”
Lewis also had some further words about how the media operates.
“They project a certain narrative, they put out false information, attempt to brainwash people, attempt to manipulate even the outcomes of certain things. The way I see the media right now is much of the legacy media needs to be defunded, because they are destroying our democracy. And I will do that.”
Wagantall voices support for Lewis campaign
Among those at the Regina event was Cathay Wagantall, MP for Yorkton-Melville, who introduced Lewis to the podium.
In speaking to SASKTODAY.ca Wagantall spoke of why she was supporting Lewis’s campaign.
“I chose right at the beginning to support Leslyn, I see her as our best opportunity as a candidate to win nationally. She has a make up of an individual who is understanding politics, very bright, very capable, very experienced in life which I think more politicians need. She has a heart for this entire country. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed from any interviews she has had with the mainstream media, but she doesn’t back down. She gives them very positive and capable answers to questions that people are actually asking.”
She was pleased with the turnout at the Regina event. “Canadians in this province are prepared to travel, to make the time to come out and see her regardless of the time of day.”
Wagantall also expressed confidence Lewis can compete against the perceived front-runner Poilievre. Regarding Poilievre, Wagantall recounted a story of a interesting conversation she had with him back when Lewis ran the last time for leader in 2020, a race Poilievre had sat out.
“When she was rising up in the numbers in the last leadership race, (Poilievre) wasn’t in it. So I said, hey, Pierre, can we talk? And we sat down in our lobby at Parliament, and I just said ‘you know, we’re starting to hear oh she’s not ready, she’s not ready, because she doesn’t have that long term political experience and she won’t be able to bring together a Prime Minister‘s office.’
“I said do you believe that? And he immediately said ‘no, Cathay, I don’t.'”
Wagantall recounted Poilievre saying of Lewis that as Conservatives “there were so many capable people that could be part of that environment that never get the opportunity…. and she will bring in a good amazing group of people to lead alongside her, she’s a team player.” She also recalled Poilievre noting it was actually Lewis’s campaign manager who had set up his office together when he was a cabinet minister in the Stephen Harper government.
On the leadership race, Wagantall said she believed Lewis had a good chance to win, based on what "we're seeing as her team" on a weekly basis in terms of growing support.
“I’m excited to see her win and form the best government this country has ever seen,” said Wagantall.
