The federal Conservative leadership race came to Cranbrook last week with the arrival of Andrew Saxton, who met with local conservative members while passing through on a cross-Canada campaign tour.
Saxon is one of 14 candidates vying for the Conservative Party leadership that is currently helmed by Rona Amberose on an interim basis following the electoral defeat of Stephen Harper in 2015.
Connecting with grassroots conservative supporters is a key part of Saxton’s campaign.
“It’s important for me to connect with our grass roots,” said Saxton, “because a lot of people who support our party are not in the big cities; they’re in the small towns across the country and we need to listen to them as well and we need to do a better job of listening to the grassroots.
“…for me, this is my opportunity to listen and hear from the base in what they want from a leader and what policies they want to see.”
Saxon leans on his experience in the business and finance industry, which includes over 30 years in the private and government sectors spanning from Switzerland, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
He was the elected Member of Parliament for North Vancouver from 2008-2015 and served as parliamentary secretary to the Ministers of Finance Jim Flaherty and Joe Oliver, with a seat at the table when the Conservatives balanced their last budget.
Naturally, Saxton touts his financial experience in relation to addressing the national debt and deficit spending under the current Liberal government.
“People are concerned, they’re concerned about the economy, they’re concerned about jobs and they’re concerned about debt and the deficits,” Saxton said, “and these are the issues I’m dealing with.
“I’m the only candidate of the 14 that actually has a plan to get us back to a balanced budget and it’s on my website. A lot of the other candidates are claiming they’ll get us back to a balanced budget, but nobody’s put it on paper.”
Saxon also said the Conservative Party needs to do a better job of reaching out to young Canadians and creating policy aimed at young Canadians, especially given that unemployment in youth is double the national average.
With that in mind, he’d like to introduce an apprenticeship program similar to that he encountered while living in Europe.
“The vast majority of the young Swiss, right out of high school, they go into business, they go into apprenticeship programs,” Saxton said. “Only a very small percentage actually go to university.
This is on-the-job training and it’s not just trades, it’s also high paying professionals — banking careers, insurance, pharmaceuticals, they’re good jobs and all going into apprenticeship programs and this is what we need here in Canada.”
The Conservatives were ousted in the 2015 election, including Saxton, who said the Tories did not do a good job of telling their story, adding that some decisions, such as telling some candidates not to attend local election debates, did not go over well.
“We had a good story to tell,” Saxton said. “We had the strongest economy in the G7, the lowest unemployment, the lowest taxes in 15 years, the highest transfer payments for health care and education, but an empty chair is not going to tell that story.
“We need to make sure that we have our candidates out there at all the all-candidate debates and telling the story that we should be proud of.”
Looking ahead to 2019, Saxton says the Conservatives need to avoid the one-size-fits-all Ottawa-centred campaign that the Tories employed in the last election. Reaching out to young Canadians is also a priority if the party wants to get back into majority status in the House of Commons.
Saxton also cited the example of former Tory MP Jason Kenney, who reached out and relied on the support of new and ethnic Canadian communities.
“It was because of the new Canadians and the ethnic communities that we won the majority in 2011,” Saxton said. “We lost them in 2015, so we have to go back and do some work in those communities.”
Saxon is the second Conservative Party leadership candidate to pass through Cranbrook; Erin O’Toole hosted a meet and greet at the Cranbrook Golf Club earlier this year.
The Conservative Party leadership vote is scheduled for May 27 at a party convention in Toronto.