Scheer misrepresenting facts

The Kelowna-Lake Country seat is important to the federal Conservatives. We know this because Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer put it on his Canada Day schedule along with Fredericton and Toronto. 

While he was in Kelowna, he attacked the incumbent Liberal MP, Stephen Fuhr. 

Fuhr, he said, “was out there promoting Bill Morneau’s attack on small businesses.”  In fact, the opposite was true. Fuhr pushed Morneau for reforms to his proposed small-business tax laws. In the end, the Liberal government reduced its small-business tax from 11% to 9%.

Are Andrew Scheer and local Conservative candidate Tracy Gray completely uninformed about local issues?

In modern politics, spin doctors are increasingly replaced by lie merchants. I can see why Republicans in the U.S. believe they have to lie. They represent the super-rich while pretending to represent the average American.  They couldn’t get elected if voters knew the truth.  

Are right-wing Canadian politicians emulating their Republican counterparts? If Scheer is willing to lie about a local MP in Kelowna-Lake Country, is he also willing to misrepresent big national and international issues?  

Small-c conservative commentator Andrew Coyne has said that Scheer’s climate plan is “an intentionally pointless bit of misdirection.” It is “a prop, a ‘plan’ the Conservative leader can wave about.” In short, Scheer’s climate plan is designed not to address climate change but to avoid taking meaningful action. 

Why would Scheer want to lie about his willingness to address climate change? He has a strong allegiance to big oil. Before drafting his climate plan, he consulted extensively with oil companies. He also consulted with former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.  

Harper was always skeptical of climate change. Scheer has been called “Stephen Harper with a smile.” Maybe he is.

Gary Willis