Dear Friends,
This week marked Andrew Scheer’s last day in the House of Commons as Leader of the Conservative Party.
I had the honour of being in Ottawa and was reminded of his speech from December where he announced his resignation. The reasons Scheer gave for his decision were admirable and show the kind of person he is:
“Serving as leader of the party that I love so much has been the opportunity and challenge of a lifetime. And this was not a decision I came to lightly. This was a decision I came to after many long, hard conversations with friends and family over the past two months since the election campaign.
“This has been an incredible challenge for our family to keep up with the pace that is required to lead a party and a caucus into a general election.
“My wife Jill has been absolutely heroic. But in order to chart the course ahead, this party, this movement, needs someone who can give 100 per cent to the efforts, and after some conversations with my kids, my loved ones, I felt it was time to put my family first.”
My respect for Andrew Scheer goes beyond his role as the Leader. He is my friend.
When I was elected in 2008, my seat in the House of Commons was beside his. I saw firsthand his deep commitment to our parliamentary institutions and to serving Canadians.
We talked often about ideas and policies that would ensure all Canadians across our country had every opportunity to prosper.
Both before and after he announced his resignation, he was strong in holding the Liberals to account on behalf of Canadians for their mistakes and corruption.
I want to express my deepest thanks to Andrew for his leadership and believe he should be commended for placing Canadians, our Conservative Party, and his family first.
His legacy, as Leader, is a united Conservative Party which will continue, as we did under his Leadership, to hold this government to the highest standards and make them accountable for their actions.
We will follow his example and continue fighting for Canadians every step of the way.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Sincerely,
Kelly Block, MP