Juno News - March 15, 2022


Leslyn Lewis says she's running on principles and respect for others


Episode Stats

Length

16 minutes

Words per Minute

162.9412

Word Count

2,753

Sentence Count

118

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 And joining me now is the Haldimand Norfolk Member of Parliament and second-time Conservative
00:00:13.600 Leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis. Leslyn, good to talk to you again. Thanks for coming on.
00:00:18.740 Thanks for having me, Andrew.
00:00:20.180 So obviously you came in the last leadership race as a relative political unknown to become
00:00:26.200 quite nationally known, not just in the Conservative movement in Canada, but also
00:00:30.460 Canadian politics more broadly. Why are you running again now? What do you think is going
00:00:34.780 to be different that might give you the victory this time around?
00:00:38.620 Well, I'm running again because I'm very concerned with the direction of our country.
00:00:44.080 I think that there's just too much demonization in our policies and pitting Canadians against each
00:00:50.900 other. I'm concerned with the fracturing that I see happening in the different regions and within
00:00:56.820 society. And coming out of COVID, I think that we need someone who is going to unite us and focus on
00:01:04.680 policies that instill hope and compassion and confidence. And I have the expertise that I feel
00:01:11.920 that I would like to dedicate with finding environmental solutions, economic solutions.
00:01:18.320 I'm concerned with our $1.3 trillion of debt. And issues of fundamental freedoms are very,
00:01:26.260 very important to me right now also.
00:01:28.860 Yes, the last time you and I spoke, it was actually at the trucker convoy that very first weekend when
00:01:34.800 a lot of people in this country who felt they had not been heard, they were not being respected.
00:01:39.540 And in the case of Justin Trudeau's comments, we're being actively disrespected. All these people said,
00:01:44.940 you know what, we have to take a stand. And you were one of, at the beginning, a small number
00:01:49.220 of members of parliament that were prepared to go out and meet with these people. How do you ensure
00:01:54.640 that the divisions that led to that don't continue both inside the party and also just in Canadian
00:02:00.420 society in general? Well, I think it's very important that when people are hurting, when they're
00:02:06.840 traumatized, when they're trying to find solutions. And you have to remember many of these people,
00:02:12.860 they reached out to their member of parliament. I received hundreds, probably I would say thousands
00:02:19.180 of letters from people who were concerned about the direction of the country. And all they wanted
00:02:26.960 is for their elected officials whom they're paying their salaries to listen to them. And some of them
00:02:33.340 drove from clear across the country from places like BC. And for me, it just wasn't, it wasn't too much
00:02:40.420 to just listen to what they had to say. And I think that it was a very, very grave mistake
00:02:46.580 for our prime minister not to listen and not to even, even they have some of his ministers go
00:02:55.560 and meet with them and listen to what they had to say, because they are regular Canadians.
00:03:01.060 They work with their hands. They are concerned about the future of the country.
00:03:05.900 Many of them are not sitting in their cottages with a MacBook on a computer during COVID. Some of
00:03:14.480 them were out of work and the mandates and our policies directly affect them in different ways
00:03:21.380 than it affects someone who's working in the office. And so I think it's very, very important
00:03:25.800 to listen to their concerns. Looking at the trajectory that led to there being a conservative
00:03:31.720 leadership race right now, the conservative performance in the last election, the caucus
00:03:36.580 vote to expel Aaron O'Toole. Do you feel the Conservative Party of Canada has done a good job
00:03:42.580 in engaging not just the type of people that were protesting as part of the convoy, but in general,
00:03:47.880 people that may represent different factions of Canadian society and the conservative movement?
00:03:52.980 And if the party's not doing a good enough job, what would you bring to the table to change that?
00:03:57.340 Well, I do see our party as a microcosm of society. We're a big tent party. And so we have different
00:04:05.700 people within our party with divergent beliefs. And I think that that is very, very important to keep
00:04:14.960 the essence of that in our society as something that's important to our democracy. So it's very
00:04:22.260 important that even though I may have a different opinion than you, that you don't demonize me and I
00:04:29.140 don't demonize you, that we hear our different perspectives. And sometimes in hearing and listening,
00:04:35.900 you find policies that we both agree on. But that's not where things are going. Right now, I see if you
00:04:42.920 vote against a piece of legislation because the legislation is poorly drafted, people will label
00:04:47.880 you, oh, you're anti this group, anti that group. Well, it may have been just, it was a poor piece
00:04:52.840 of legislation. And so we have to move away from these labels and the demonization and pitting people
00:05:00.200 against each other. And I think that if we're going to survive as a nation beyond COVID and come out of
00:05:08.360 COVID, a united country, I think that we really do have to focus on working together and bringing the
00:05:17.080 different regions and the different factions within our party within our nation together.
00:05:23.320 You're unique among the others who have announced leadership campaigns and that you were in a similar
00:05:28.220 spot just two years ago, is the platform that you're going to run on in this leadership going to
00:05:33.300 be essentially a clone or a bringing forward what you ran on in 2020? Or are you trying a different
00:05:39.220 approach this time? Well, I believe in the platform that I ran on. And so there are aspects of it that
00:05:46.040 are going to be the same. But I would say just stay tuned. I think there'll be some things that
00:05:52.040 are the same and there'll be some surprises also. But we haven't fully put out our platform as yet,
00:05:57.480 but we will be in short time. On social issues, you had a very candid approach. I know you had a lot
00:06:06.080 of support from social conservatives in the party, from some social conservative groups, and you had put
00:06:11.320 forward a plan on abortion that had no hidden agenda. You laid out all your points. Is that
00:06:16.280 something you see yourself campaigning on this time around as well? Yeah, Andrew, you know, issues like
00:06:22.380 abortion are very polarizing. And actually, I don't think they have to be because I have a lot of friends
00:06:28.220 who are pro-choice. And there are a number of issues that we actually, when we sit down and we talk,
00:06:35.920 that we agree on. So what I've done is, I know that not every woman, not every person,
00:06:42.240 not every Canadian is going to agree with my personal beliefs on the issue. And so I like to
00:06:49.480 ask people, well, what do you believe on the issue? And then find commonalities. So for example,
00:06:56.080 pregnancy care center, caring for our most vulnerable women, women who may not have had,
00:07:02.580 may not have planned their pregnancy, to have care centers that are there to assist them in their
00:07:09.380 time of need, the majority of women agree on. The majority of women also agree that
00:07:14.560 we shouldn't promote misogyny in our society. And so targeting a baby girl in the womb, because she's a
00:07:24.680 girl, the majority of people agree that that that's not right. And so sex selective abortion is
00:07:31.000 something that the majority of Canadians, I think 78% agree on. And so there are things that the
00:07:38.480 majority of Canadians do agree on. And it doesn't have to necessarily be a polarizing issue. I think
00:07:43.320 politicians like for it to be, because then they can pit people against each other. But I think that
00:07:51.840 if we find common ground issues that we agree on, then you can form policies around that. And there
00:07:58.780 shouldn't be anything hidden about it. We shouldn't have a hidden agenda about what kind of policies
00:08:04.660 we believe are in the betterment of all Canadians. You just laid out a very sensible approach. I think
00:08:11.660 some people might disagree. I think a lot of people, even those that aren't in a camp, so to speak,
00:08:16.440 would also find agreement in perhaps some of those spaces. At the same time, conservative leaders,
00:08:22.060 especially the last two elections, have not communicated all that clearly. The conservative
00:08:27.600 platform and the conservative vision. And I look at the last election where at the very beginning of
00:08:32.480 it, people had some concrete pledges that were in there that by the end of the campaign in 2021 had
00:08:38.120 been abandoned by Aaron O'Toole. So how do you tell people that you're not going to go down the road
00:08:43.100 that your predecessors would have gone down, that when you make these pledges in the leadership,
00:08:47.520 these are going to be the same pledges that you campaign on in a general, and if you win,
00:08:51.680 the same pledges you'd run on as a prime minister? I think people know me and they know that
00:08:58.000 there's a level of authenticity there and that I will stand up for positions, even if it's going to
00:09:04.600 cost me, even if I'm penalized for it, because I believe in those positions. I believe that those
00:09:11.300 positions are in the best interest of our country. And so I also believe in democracy. I believe I trust
00:09:18.560 the democratic process. I trust our members. And so when our members have policies such as the carbon
00:09:26.580 tax, I think that it's very, very important that if you make a pledge saying that I am not going to
00:09:33.160 have an individual carbon tax and the members have supported that, that you recognize that the reason
00:09:40.860 why we got there is because of an analysis that the majority of people that will be most, uh, suffer
00:09:49.020 the most burden of the carbon tax or the average, the average person, the average Canadian who is
00:09:55.980 heating their home, who's driving to work. And so it's, it's an issue of, do you want to just continue
00:10:02.540 to tax people to change their behavior? Or do you want to have different policies such as education
00:10:08.540 to encourage a change of behavior? Because we're going to get to a point where Pete,
00:10:15.420 it's no longer sustainable to continue to tax people. And so I trust the membership that they
00:10:21.740 invoke policies and they come up with policies that are of benefit to the majority of Canadians.
00:10:29.820 But then there are other issues like conscience rights issues, Andrew, that the membership may come
00:10:35.340 up with a conscience rights issues. And I believe that, um, there should be free votes on issues of
00:10:40.940 conscience. And so I wouldn't, uh, whip caucus on, on issues of conscience. So there, there's a
00:10:47.260 distinction in, in, in the policies. You mentioned being prepared to take a stand, even if it costs you.
00:10:55.820 So this, I think lends itself very well to a question I wanted to ask you about electability here.
00:11:00.860 Again, the last three elections, Justin Trudeau has defeated conservatives, even when people were
00:11:05.740 very optimistic. Is there a strategy you have as a leadership candidate that you'd take to a general
00:11:11.980 on, on how you break through the walls that conservatives have been up, up against, whether
00:11:17.100 it's in Quebec or the GTA or parts of British Columbia? Is there a path to victory that you're
00:11:22.220 planning on and, and a way that you could tell members, yeah, I'm not just going to be a solid
00:11:26.060 conservative leader, but I'm going to win. And here's how. Yeah. Well, I think it's, it's forming
00:11:31.500 policies that unite Canadians. I see that the, the lines of partisanship are, are really, really
00:11:38.540 shifting. People are more focused on policies and principles rather than party loyalty. And I witnessed
00:11:47.580 that from, from the last election, just knocking at the doors and Canadians want to know that you are
00:11:53.580 going to implement policies that are in the best interest of all Canadians that unite Canada and that
00:12:01.420 they can prosper and get back to the way things were where people are working and they're making a living
00:12:09.740 where we are self-sufficient and we're not reliant on other countries for our natural resources. And, and
00:12:19.260 in times of a pandemic, we, we have supplies that, that could, that could assist our population. And so
00:12:27.580 we need to get our house in order. And I believe that a focus on that is very, very important from our
00:12:36.380 party. I also believe that we also need to reach out to the growing demographics of our country in urban
00:12:45.020 centers and focus, focus on those centers and, and let the people know that there's a place for them in
00:12:51.980 our party and that our party is really a microcosm of society where we have diverse perspectives and
00:13:00.460 diverse beliefs and, and you're welcome with your beliefs within our party.
00:13:04.940 Now, how do you go after, uh, and this is not just about ethnic diversity, but diverse voters
00:13:11.900 in general, whether it's people that have different economic situations, different religions,
00:13:16.220 different racial backgrounds, whatever the case may be, how do you go after communities and offer
00:13:21.100 a unifying message without it going down that road of, of identity politics and, and pandering
00:13:26.620 that I think oftentimes conservatives reject when we see the liberals doing it?
00:13:31.020 I think that Canadians, we generally are looking for very similar things. The average Canadian,
00:13:38.860 whether they're an immigrant, they, or they were born here, they want to be able to provide for
00:13:44.940 their families. They want to be left alone for the government from the government to leave them alone.
00:13:50.860 What a concept so that they can live their lives and, and practice their faith without government
00:13:58.140 interference and raise their children in accordance with their values. And they also want to know that
00:14:04.540 when they pay their taxes, the government is responsible and respects them and that there will
00:14:10.620 be programs there for them in the future. And right now, all of that is in jeopardy because with 1.3
00:14:17.100 trillion dollars of debt, we don't know whether or not our social programs even will be sustainable. And so
00:14:26.060 that brings a lot of concern for vulnerable populations like the elderly, people on disability,
00:14:33.100 and our, our, our veterans. These are areas and people that, that want to know that government is
00:14:43.900 responsible and, and that they're securing the future for them.
00:14:49.980 Just finally, Leslyn, I, I had Pierre Polyev on the other day and I asked him about some of the
00:14:54.300 competitors in the race and he had very kind words to say about you as a, a formidable force in the
00:14:59.180 Conservative Caucus. Just looking at the competition here, whether it's Jean Charest or Pierre Polyev
00:15:04.380 or Roman Babber, Patrick Brown, are these all people that you could work with conceivably with
00:15:09.820 you as leader and them in your caucus, or if you're not successful that either one of them
00:15:14.220 as leader and you in their caucus, is this a race that you think is full of friendly opponents?
00:15:19.980 Well, I think that the, the beauty about our party is that you could have four different candidates and
00:15:27.020 they all believe four different things and that's the beauty. So I think it's very important for our
00:15:32.780 democratic process that our members see the divergent perspectives within the, the leadership race.
00:15:41.340 And I have the utmost respect for anybody who puts their name in because it's, it's, it's a lot of work
00:15:49.980 and it's a lot of sacrifice. And it's, for me, it's, it's a labor of love, um, extending my resources,
00:15:57.580 my time to the membership so that they can see that there is somebody that reflects their point of
00:16:06.300 view. And I'm sure that the other candidates have, um, are going to have very strong platforms
00:16:13.580 and that we, we're not going to agree on everything, but I think that that's a part of, uh, unifying our
00:16:21.100 party that we are able, no matter who gets in, that we are able to get behind that person and work
00:16:28.780 towards making sure that we win the next election and that we restore confidence and faith and, and
00:16:35.740 hope, um, for Canadians.
00:16:37.660 Haldeman Norfolk Member of Parliament and Conservative Leadership Candidate Leslyn Lewis.
00:16:42.780 Leslyn, thanks very much for your time.
00:16:44.220 Thank you so much, Andrew.
00:16:45.820 Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show. Support the program by donating to
00:16:50.060 True North at www.tnc.news.