Juno News - September 16, 2023Do the Conservatives have a path to victory？ (ft. Melissa Lantsman)
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Summary
Melissa Lansman is the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in the House of Commons. She's been a member of the Thornhill MP for Thornhill since she was elected in 2015, and has been on both sides of politics for the past 20 years. In this episode, she talks to Andrew Lawton about the current state of the party and what she's looking forward to in the upcoming election.
Transcript
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Sitting down at the Conservative Party of Canada-Quebec City Convention with the Conservatives'
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Deputy Leader, Thornhill MP Melissa Lansman. Melissa, good to talk to you.
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Let's talk about the enthusiasm here, because oftentimes when a party's in opposition,
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there can be a bit of a pall over things. And in this particular case, it's a party that's lost
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the last three elections, but that's not the vibe that you're picking up in this room here.
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It's certainly not the vibe. And with thousands of delegates from across the country,
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every single riding represented in beautiful Quebec City, that doesn't hurt with nice weather.
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The vibe here is electric. People are excited. Look, it's not lost on you. The poll numbers look
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good, and that has an effect on people. It means that all of the work that all of these folks do,
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every single day on the ground, in their ridings, is resonating. And the message that we've been
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on track with for a number of years, and particularly in the last year, is resonating with Canadians.
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Do you think it's that the Conservative message under Pierre Polyev has kind of shifted to one
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that's resonating with more Canadians? Or do you think it's that the climate in Canada and the
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circumstances in Canada have changed to catch up with where Conservatives are?
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Look, realistically, I think it's both. But we have, you know, we've got a leader who is non-stop,
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every single day in a different corner of the country, oftentimes with his wife, who is often
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talked about as the not-so-secret weapon. But he's talking about what Canadians are actually talking
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about. And what we see is a Prime Minister who isn't. A Prime Minister who is off at the G20,
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an environment minister who would raise the carbon tax here and then run off to China,
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a bloc leader who's fighting for sovereignty in Europe somewhere. This is not where Canadians are
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at. And we finally, you know, we finally have a leader that after a year in power is speaking
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You're obviously an MP in the GTA, in Thornhill. And I'm curious where,
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because you've obviously been on campaigns before. So, you know, the strategic aspect of this.
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You've done it better than a lot of MPs have, because you've been on both sides of this. And
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I'm curious where you think the road to victory is, because in 2011, Stephen Harper won a majority
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by just cleaning house in the GTA, but not really breaking through in Quebec. And I know in 2021,
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we saw the Conservatives try to do both GTA and Quebec. Neither really were. Like,
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No, I, although that would be nice. Look, I think the coalition, it looks a little bit,
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the country looks different than when Stephen Harper was prime minister, by the way, a great
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prime minister. And that 2011 victory was, was like an outstanding victory for Conservatives.
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One that we didn't probably see coming until, into, into the campaign. So shifts turn. So the tide
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turned within the campaign. I think this coalition looks different. And I think that no matter who
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you are, no matter what lot, walk of life you're from, you know, no matter, you know, if you came
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to this country five days ago, five years ago, 500 years ago, there is a spot for you in the Canadian,
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in the, in the Conservative Party. And because the country looks different,
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the coalition looks different. So, southwestern Ontario, the 905 certainly, the van, the greater
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What is it that you would like to champion personally under a Conservative government?
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And I'm not asking you to, like, pick your cabinet spot if you had one, but, but going in there, I mean,
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What are the issues that you really personally see yourself as being to bring outside of an opposition role
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and in a government role, if that's where the tide takes you?
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Look, if the tide takes us there, and we're lucky enough, and we're going to do the work
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every single day to, to try to get there. But there are so many things to fix in this country.
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Attracting investment back to this country is, is certainly one of them.
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Our role on the world stage, making, fixing our, our, our very broken bureaucracies,
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our services to, to Canadians, and getting back on track, on a, on a, on a fiscal track,
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a path to balance, and making life more affordable for Canadians.
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So there's no shortage of, of, of areas to, to fix, and no shortage of areas, uh, that will really have
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an impact on people's everyday lives that I'm interested in.
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Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show. Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.