Abbotsford MP Ed Fast has cited Andrew Scheer’s leadership as a reason for declining a position in the Conservative shadow cabinet.
“Mr. Scheer and I recently had a conversation about where I could fit into his Shadow Cabinet, and I expressed my desire not to be included at this time,” Fast said in a statement provided to The News.
“Mr. Scheer is entitled to surround himself with a team that fully supports his leadership. I am looking forward to remaining fully engaged in the affairs of our caucus and to holding Justin Trudeau’s government to account for its actions.”
Fast had just earlier made a similar statement in an interview with the CBC. The News’s request to speak to Fast about the subject was turned down.
Scheer’s leadership has been called into question since he failed to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in October’s federal election.
Fast had supported Erin O’Toole during the Conservative leadership race.
He also had struck a different tone on election night. While Scheer had said the Conservatives would be ready to govern when Trudeau failed, Fast had called for politicians of all stripes to “work together like we’ve never worked together before” to make the next minority government work.”
Fast had said the Conservatives had a “great platform” and that the election results “aren’t reflective of the type of platform we had.”
But he also said the party had done everything it could during the campaign.
I've read that Scheer speech a couple times now. He doesn't talk at all about wanting working together to make the next government work. But that was a big theme of Fast's speech last night. (Fast also spoke about the Liberal government's foreign relations struggles.)
— Tyler Olsen (@ty_olsen) October 22, 2019
Here's the whole section of that part of the speech. See:
"it's going to require a lot of working together and a lot of putting a little bit of water in your wine, and I'm hoping that I will be able to be part of that process." pic.twitter.com/M3JLC7HEY6— Tyler Olsen (@ty_olsen) October 22, 2019
RELATED: Conservative Ed Fast wins in Abbotsford, says politicians must ‘work together’
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