Peter MacKay leans in and gets serious when he’s asked the question any politician wanting to lead our country needs to answer: Why do you want the job?
It’s an adjustment from our previous conversation about life, work and hockey.
MacKay, who will officially launch his campaign to become Conservative Party leader on Saturday in Stellarton, N.S., sat down for an exclusive interview to explain why he wants the job of party leader and eventually prime minister.
“I’ve always been very motivated by a sense of public service and I see politics as a calling,” MacKay said.
“I feel that the country, in many ways, is in some jeopardy under the current administration and I want to do everything I can to see that we right the ship.”
We are sitting in a Tim Hortons in downtown Toronto in a building that houses the law offices he currently occupies. He will soon leave those offices for the world of politics — once again — but as we speak, neither of us knows that the man who could perhaps give him the biggest challenge, Pierre Poilievre, is about to bow out of the race.
That would happen about an hour after we parted company.
MacKay had been portrayed by many as the “Red Tory” in this race while Poilievre was pegged as the real deal conservative.
“Well for starters, it’s not true. It’s a useless negative narrative. I don’t believe in these pigeon-hole categories,” MacKay said when asked if he is simply a “Red Tory.”
“Look, I’m a true blue conservative as much as anyone in this race.”
MacKay was first elected under the Progressive Conservative banner in 1997 and became leader of that party in 2003. Months later, he would merge the PCs with Stephen Harper’s Canadian Alliance to form the new Conservative Party of Canada.
“I’m a pragmatic or a practical conservative. I’m someone who believes very strongly in the importance of a free economy, in the importance of individual rights,” MacKay said.
I’ve been covering MacKay for nearly 20 years. We aren’t close by any means, yet even I can detect a difference between the man who walked away from political life in 2015 and the one before me now.
Given that he’s 54 years-old, saying he has matured would be an insult.
Let’s face facts: He was an MP for 18 years, after spending time as a Crown prosecutor.
While in government he held portfolios such as foreign affairs, defence and justice. MacKay was no slouch in government, yet there is something different, maybe something more calm about him.
He’s spent the last five years working at a Toronto law firm, a far cry from an upbringing in rural Nova Scotia where he said he was so deep in the country that, “you had to come out to go hunting.” The former eternal bachelor is also now the married father of three children, aged 16 months to 6 years.
He claims his family is all in on this run — support he will need.
It’s a serious run. Even if he wins the leadership, MacKay won’t get to stop running for office. The Trudeau Liberals have a minority government which, theoretically, could fall at any moment, even though a quick election call remains unlikely.
If MacKay wins, he will need to convince those suburban Ontario voters, and some in Atlantic Canada, that they can trust his party not just on the economic front, but on social issues and the environment, as well. MacKay will also have to convince voters that he’s not yesterday’s man against Justin Trudeau.
“I think people will have to judge for themselves my youthfulness. I’m a guy who likes to stay active. (Trudeau) does yoga, I play hockey,” MacKay said.
I’m sure there are more differences than that, but we will have to wait for a general election, if MacKay get there, to make that judgement.
Peter MacKay in his own words
On being compassionate without punishing the successful
Yes, of course we need a strong social program and that’s part of who Canadians are. We are compassionate people, but why hammer success? Why tell people that when they do more for themselves, the government then going to reach deep in their pocket and take more from them for doing so?
On his time as defence minister during a period of war
I was defence minister for over six years, I helped to prosecute the biggest post-World War Two combat mission that we had as a country. I did my best to enable the men and women of our armed forces to have the best equipment, the best opportunity to do their important work in Afghanistan and come back home to their families.
On how his experience as a Crown prosecutor inspired his political run
When I saw the revolving door of people coming in and out of court, both criminals and victims. It wasn’t working.
Why Conservatives need to talk climate without shutting people out of the debate
People can discuss in earnest what the causes are and what we should do about it, but no political party has the right to vilify anybody for taking part in that discussion because they don’t believe in a carbon tax or what our national obligation is.
How legal gun owners are vilified
The lawful gun owner community in Canada is often vilified and misrepresented in this debate and I’m a strong believer that you go after the bad guys, the problem. I try to look at this logically, practically.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
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