Andrew Scheer stuck on repeat as he goes stumping in Peel again

On a blustery Thursday morning, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer appeared once again in Brampton to shore up support four days ahead of the big show. Speaking in a trucking yard near the Maple Lodge Farms plant, Scheer repeated much of what he’d been saying earlier in the week about his first 100 days of office.

Still absent were any commitments toward much-needed capital funding for Brampton and Mississauga.

“What I can tell you is, I had a conversation with the mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown,” Scheer said when asked about funding for the LRT, a new hospital and a university campus in the city. “I made it clear to him that a Conservative government will make sure that Brampton gets its fair share of things like infrastructure dollars and money to make our community safer.” 

Scheer’s answer was a repeat of his words from his September 30 visit to an event held by Brampton Centre candidate Pawanjit Gosal.

He has been silent on the particulars of how he will provide Brampton with its fair share of funding, much like his red counterpart Justin Trudeau. Despite multiple questions, the Liberal leader has provided no commitments to the two cities. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has committed to building a hospital and funding a university campus in Brampton, two vows his riding candidates have repeated often.

Scheer has promised infrastructure funding to other cities, however. During a campaign stop in Thornhill, Scheer promised to fund the Yonge subway extension, which will see the Yonge Line stretch from the Finch TTC Station for 7.4 kilometres, cutting through Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill. The federal government has committed $36 million, alongside $55 million from the province, toward planning design and engineering. The Government of Ontario, last April, provided $11.2 billion to support capital construction. 

Brampton’s LRT has received no such commitment. The city is still reeling from the decision by Premier Doug Ford — an ally from whom Scheer has distanced himself — to revoke $90 million toward a Ryerson extension campus.

The Ford government also cancelled the downtown loop of the Mississauga LRT. The loop was meant to connect the mostly linear Hurontario-Main LRT with the transit terminal at Square One Mall. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has made re-funding the loop a priority in her Mississauga Matters campaign. Scheer provided no commitment there, either, choosing instead to highlight his experience using Mississauga’s transit system in his youth. 

“We are committed to making sure that both Mississauga and Brampton get their fair share of infrastructure dollars. This is something that I have made clear to both Mayor Brown and in the past when I’ve had conversations with Mayor Crombie,” Scheer said.

Scheer meets with supporters in Brampton on Thursday. 

“Having spent a lot of my summers in Mississauga taking the No. 8 bus and the GO Train into Union Station, I believe fully in public transit. I understand the benefits it brings to Mississauga, and a federal Conservative government will absolutely ensure that import projects are built to improve the lives of the people of Mississauga, to shorten commute times and to make it easier for people to get home to their families.”

The week before his latest visit, Scheer said he will ensure that “Mississauga has the investment it needs to have the transportation is deserves.” When asked to provide specifics, Scheer said, “You’ll have to stay tuned on that.”

Crombie has received open letters from Trudeau, Singh and Scheer about their commitments to Mississauga. Singh was the only one of the three to accept all of the mayor’s demands. Those included transit projects in the city, sustained and “predictable” funding toward infrastructure in general, permanent direct funding similar to the gas tax and maintaining and enhancing the Liberal Party’s $40-billion affordable-housing project, among others. 

Scheer, at Thursday’s campaign stop, chose to stick to his firmly established campaign talking points. He promised to get rid of the HST on residential heating bills, to convene a meeting of Canada’s first ministers to establish a free-trade deal between the provinces and to repeal the Liberals’ carbon tax by January 1 of next year. 

Scheer called talk of a proposed coalition between the NDP and the Liberals “one that Canadians cannot afford.”

“This week, Justin Trudeau is desperately trying to salvage his job by doing a coalition deal with the NDP … High taxes, more deficits, fewer jobs and much less money in your pocket,” Scheer told the crowd.

Earlier in the day, Scheer told CP24 that a re-elected Liberal government would decriminalize hard drugs, pointing to a Liberal Party policy convention. A CBC reporter at the Brampton appearance said evidence suggests such a policy would be beneficial, as it would treat addiction as a health issue, and asked Scheer what exactly he disagrees with.

Scheer responded: “We do not believe in decriminalizing hard drugs. That is a choice that Canadians can make on Monday. It’s clear that Justin Trudeau and many of his MPs have this as something they are looking at … We believe the focus should be on recovery programs. That’s where we’re going to put our investment, not decriminalizing hard drugs.”

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