What is Hastings-Lennox and Addington looking for in a Conservative leader?

By Brittany Woodcock

BELLEVILLE – What do local voters want in Canada’s new Conservative leader?

“I suspect (local residents are) going to want someone who stands up for Canada on the world stage,” Hastings-Lennox and Addington Conservative MP Derek Sloan told QNet News this week. “Who stands up for rural Canada and makes sure that they prioritize rural Canada for funding and for economic development.

“I also feel that they want a leader who’s approachable and down to earth – that they can feel is telling them the truth, and that they can relate to,” he said.

The supply-management system for dairy farmers is a big issue for people in Hastings-Lennox and Addington riding, MP Derek Sloan says, adding that he expects the new Conservative leader will want to maintain the system. Photo courtesy of the Conservative party.

“The average person in our riding cares … about how much money they’re bringing home at the end of the month, can they afford to pay for their energy, can they afford to put gas in their car.”

During an all-candidates debates in Sloan’s riding prior to last fall’s federal election, one of the issues brought up was supply management for dairy farmers. 

Sloan said that’s going to be an important factor in the riding. 

“Dairy farmers don’t want to lose any more of their market share to international trade deals. They’re going to want someone who is behind supply management,” he said. “I don’t think anyone in this leadership race is going to be campaigning against supply management, but we’ll see.” 

Asked about the issue of climate change, Sloan said, “The average person is concerned about the environment and they want real, tangible things to be done. But they also have to pay bills and put gas in the tank and that type of thing. So I think they’re in favour of specific conservation measures that make the air, the water and the soil cleaner.”

In his largely rural riding, he said, people are “completely against the carbon tax. They (are) skeptical as to whether it would work, if it was just a tax grab or if it would have any impact at all on the environment.”

Sloan said he hopes that whoever is elected leader “is willing to tackle the big problems and willing to make tough and bold decisions. It’ll be exciting to see how that unfolds.”