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- Ex-army commander Leslie to play key role\u00a0with Americans<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and other past advisers were recruited\u00a0to reach out<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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Conservatives across Canada (incl fmr PMs) have put partisanship aside to pitch in with the new @potus<\/a>. This is the opposite of that. https:\/\/t.co\/QyWJKXLHwf<\/a><\/p>\n
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\n @gmbutts<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n“They’re late to the game,” said Saskatchewan MP Randy Hoback.\u00a0“I think they were in shock to see Donald Trump elected. I think they didn’t know how to react.”<\/p>\n
A Trump adviser may have provided some reassurance<\/a> to cabinet that Canada isn’t an\u00a0intended target.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But\u00a0“there’s lots of things that have been said in the last few days that still bring\u00a0on more anxiety,” said\u00a0the Conservative critic for\u00a0Canada-U.S. relations, who\u00a0joined Ambrose in Washington, D.C., last week<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’ve got to do what we can to make sure that border stays open,”\u00a0Hoback\u00a0said, noting his party’s relationships with Republicans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“This is something that’s beyond\u00a0politics. This is non-partisan,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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- Trump’s win ‘changes everything’:\u00a0Ambrose<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Last fall, Ambrose said Canada had weakened its\u00a0position<\/a> by being too quick to agree to renegotiate\u00a0the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.)<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, she said Trudeau wasn’t demonstrating what he was going to do to defend jobs in the face of uncertainty over NAFTA’s future.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nU.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to boost U.S. border security Wednesday. But American officials have tried to reassure that Canada isn’t a target for new trade and economic measures. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Can Conservatives effectively criticize\u00a0things like Liberal\u00a0carbon pricing policy\u00a0\u2014 now apparently\u00a0on a collision course with the new administration’s views\u00a0\u2014\u00a0without undermining Canada internationally at a sensitive time?<\/p>\n
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‘Complete insanity’ to pursue carbon tax now that Trump will be president, Ambrose says<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Or consider Canada’s pursuit of\u00a0freer trade with China.<\/p>\n
Conservatives championed it when in government, but concerns about large trade deficits with Asia exist\u00a0north of the border too. How will Canadian\u00a0Conservatives handle any resurgent trade skepticism\u00a0in their ranks?<\/p>\n
Trump may not be “front and centre” on this week’s caucus agenda, but the new U.S. administration is definitely part of “the coffee conversation,” Hoback said.<\/p>\n
How to keep competing teams\u00a0united?<\/h2>\n
In four months, Conservatives will have a new leader.<\/p>\n
Competing fundraising pitches are underway<\/a>\u00a0and endorsements are rolling\u00a0out<\/a>\u00a0from 14 rival candidate\u00a0camps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The race now\u00a0has a household name<\/a>: businessman and television personality Kevin O’Leary.<\/p>\n
“He sure adds a new dimension,” said Ontario MP Karen Vecchio, who said she’s been approached in grocery stores by people who aren’t normally very engaged but find him exciting.<\/p>\n
“It does add that spark to our campaign. That’s not bad for us,” she said.<\/p>\n
But O’Leary’s arrival was\u00a0panned by his competitors<\/a>. Lisa Raitt\u00a0launched a website to organize against him<\/a>. Brad Trost called him a chicken<\/a> for not joining in time for the French debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nKevin O’Leary announced his candidacy for the Conservative Party leadership last week in Toronto. He’s been spending time outside of Canada in the days since, and it’s not clear he’ll be in Quebec City this week. (Chris Young\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Vecchio supports\u00a0Erin O’Toole in the race and shares his view\u00a0that the party must stay united<\/a>.<\/p>\n
“Our final goal is not about who wins the leadership. It’s about who wins the election in 2019,” she said.<\/p>\n
With\u00a0more MPs running or working on campaigns, it’s harder\u00a0for Ambrose to maintain bench strength of\u00a0effective\u00a0critics.<\/p>\n
Competitive leadership contests feature healthy policy debates. But they can also confuse voters about what the party stands for.<\/p>\n
This race includes candidates like Michael Chong (who champions\u00a0a carbon tax proposal<\/a>), Rick Peterson (who wants to re-raise\u00a0the GST<\/a>) and\u00a0Maxime Bernier (whose platform diverges in several ways from official party policy, including advocating an end to agriculture’s\u00a0supply-management system<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
Ambrose says they’re welcome to keep raising these issues. But her approach as interim leader continues to prioritize\u00a0things\u00a0most Conservatives agree on:\u00a0focusing on jobs and the\u00a0economy, advocating\u00a0for Canadian taxpayers and criticizing Liberal spending plans leading up to another budget in which big deficits are expected.<\/a><\/p>\n
“A lot of people feel that the current government is not taking care of their livelihood,” she said at a news conference ahead of the caucus meeting. “There’s a lot of work for the opposition to do.”<\/p>\n
Vecchio says community safety issues \u2014\u00a0like the Liberal government’s approach to marijuana legalization<\/a> and supervised\u00a0injection sites<\/a> \u2014 and the sputtering electoral reform file\u00a0are also hot topics in Conservative constituencies.<\/p>\n
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- Liberal survey on voting reform delivers conflicting messages<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
How to hold and expand recent gains in Quebec?<\/h2>\n
- Liberal survey on voting reform delivers conflicting messages<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- Trump’s win ‘changes everything’:\u00a0Ambrose<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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