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UPDATED: Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer talks about resources, jobs, votes during Langley visit

Supporters ‘raring to go for 2019,’ says Andrew Scheer
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Federal Conversative leader Andrew Scheer met supporters Wednesday during a picnic and volunteer appreciation event at Milner Downs Equestian Centre. Troy Landreville Langley Times

The man who hopes to be the next Prime Minister of Canada was swarmed by supporters Wednesday at Milner Downs Equestrian Centre in Langley.

Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer was visitingMilner Downs for a family picnic and volunteer appreciation event.

And during an interview with the Langley Times, Scheer sounded like a man on a mission — to shift the balance of power to the Tories once the next federal election rolls around on Oct. 21, 2019.

“There’s some seats in the area that I believe we can win back,” Scheer said. “We can win the trust in voters to elect Conservative members of parliament who will fight for the types of things that will create prosperity and help improve the quality of life for all Canadians.”

Scheer added that “a lot of people are concerned with the fact that a lot of investment is leaving British Columbia, leaving Canada, leaving the natural resource sector.”

He noted that there is a “lot of difficulty” with the softwood lumber industry as well as concern about where the good paying jobs are going to be in the coming years.

“The signals that the Liberal government federally and now the NDP government provincially are saying, is they are going to reject science-based decisions like approvals for pipelines,” Scheer said.

“People all across Canada recognize that pipelines not only create jobs, but they also are the most environmentally friendly way to move energy, and we need to get to Asian markets.”

One of the motives behind Scheer’s trip west is to listen to the people, about what the Conservative party should be focusing on in this area.

“I’ve met with veterans groups and small business owners today and I’ll continue that for the next few days,” Scheer said.

Meanwhile, Scheer said he was heartened by the amount of support he received during the event.

“This is very, very encouraging,” he said. “To see this large crowd (at an event) which was put together with relatively short notice. You can see there are a lot of excited people here, a lot of people who are raring to go for 2019, which is great. We are going to build on that enthusiasm.”

Making history

In 2011, the Conservative party won its first majority government and Scheer, then only 32, would soon be elected Speaker of the House of Commons, the youngest person ever to hold the storied post.

In May, he nabbed another place in the history books, becoming only the second leader ever of the federal Conservatives in a nailbiter win over Quebec MP Maxime Bernier.

The Saskatchewan MP rose to the top over 12 other candidates to replace former leader Stephen Harper.

Scheer has visited Langley twice over the past six months, initially at Trinity Western University in December, then in February for the Fraser Valley debate of Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates.

In December, Scheer shared his views with the Times about the federal Liberal government’s decision to accept Kinder Morgan’s proposal to twin the 63-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline to Burnaby, and reject Enbridge’s Northern Gateway oil pipeline across northern B.C. to Kitimat.

“I think it’s very important that we make these decisions based on objective criteria. The National Energy Board approved Kinder Morgan quite a while ago,” Scheer said. “The Liberals sat on it. Now they’ve killed Northern Gateway which is devastating news for out-of-work Canadians across the country both in the energy sector and in the manufacturing sector.”