What is happening to Canada? It seems to me that some of the nastiness south of the border may be filtering through.
Kevin O'Leary, who I refer to as Canada's very own Trump, realized that Canadians are too smart to follow suit. O'Leary and the countless other are out and Andrew Scheer is in.
But who is Andrew Scheer?
We know little about him. During his Conservative leadership candidacy, he said: "I genuinely enjoy what I am doing."
The fact is, just having turned 38, he has already had 13 years of experience holding political office. In addition, he worked for several years for the Conservatives in Ottawa while he was attending university there.
Simply put, he has been a political junkie on the payroll of the Canadian taxpayers for over 15 years.
During his leadership victory speech, he claimed that "Trudeau's Liberals are so focused on photo-ops and selfies that they don't care if their policies hurt and not help the middle class."
Really? That is malarkey. It is nasty and not very Canadian. It is fake news.
Then he continues with: "The Liberals can take their cues from the cocktail circuit. We will take ours from the minivans, from the soccer fields, from the Legion halls and the grocery stores."
Sure, I am a Justin follower. But when Scheer likens himself as a "common man" challenging a "celebrity politician," I chuckle.
We all know too well about the actual celebrity apprentice politician and what happens when they become president. Not good at all!
Scheer was born and raised in Ottawa and attended university there.
He claims to be a good Catholic who steers away from any topic that might challenge his beliefs.
With a family of five children and a wife who is also a soccer mom, and an income of a parliamentarian and now opposition leader, he is not exactly one of Canada's have-nots.
Scheer has been an MP since 2004. He was the Speaker of the House for four years. He was also chair of the Parliamentary Operations Committee.
The current base salary of an MP is $167,400; the chair of a standing Committee makes $179,100; the Speaker earns $247,500, which is the same he'll receive as the Leader of the Opposition.
Let me put that into contrast for my readers. The Canadian median individual annual income is $27,600, the Canadian median family income is $76,000, the richest 10 per cent of individuals make more than $80,400 per year.
Based on income, both past and present, Scheer earns more than the upper 10 per cent and likely more than the upper five per cent of Canadians. Not exactly common man.
Scheer is known for his wisecracks.
During one of the leadership debates he referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as having a yoga body while Scheer has a dad body. What is a dad body?
He is trying to play this common man thing a bit too far.
From what I can see, I would characterize him more as what we used to refer to as a yuppie - and a boring one at that. For the younger readers that refers to young upwardly-mobile professional.
Justin Trudeau is not a celebrity politician.
He does come from a strong family and one which provided him with a small inheritance of about four times the salary of the prime minister, an inheritance which has been put into trust while he sits in Parliament.
He has also had other work experiences - teacher, guide, etc.
He has also travelled to experience the world we live in. He has countless interests, a captivating personality and diplomacy. He too is a husband and a dad.
In my opinion he has united much of Canada. He knows Canada from coast to coast.
Scheer thinks he knows the West. Saskatchewan is not the West and Ottawa is not the East.
Saskatchewan is a prairie province. It has its own solitude.
Remember when our last civic election was over and Lyn Hall was declared the winner? Suddenly Prince George put on a smiley face.
Scheer is not going to give me that smiley face. Justin has done that for me.
