THUNDER BAY -- Michael Chong thinks he’s the man who can turn Northwestern Ontario blue.
The Conservative leadership candidate spent Monday meeting with city leaders, students and the business community, listening to the issues facing residents of Thunder Bay as he tries to distinguish himself from a crowded 14-person race.
Chong, the son of immigrant parents, said his plan is to build a much bigger Conservative party and he thinks his story is just one way people in the region can relate to him in a city that hasn’t elected a Conservative federally since Donald Cowan and Robert Manion claimed victory 1930 in the respective ridings of Port Arthur-Thunder Bay and Fort William.
“I think that’s the story of tens of thousands of people in Northern Ontario, who came here from places like Italy, from Finland, from places all around the world to create new lives of hope and opportunity,” said Chong, a father-of-three who has represented the Ontario riding of Wellington-Halton Hills since 2004.
“I think my story resonates with voters and I think that story will help us build a much bigger Conservative party.”
Of course a back story will only take a politician so far.
Chong believes his combination of fiscal conservatism with an environmental sensibility is his way to the top.
One does not have to be mutually exclusive of the other, he said, adding he’s always believed that environmental protection is at the root of being a conservative.
“But unlike the approach of the other parties, I believe in the power of the free market to achieve those outcomes, rather than government bureaucracy and government regulation,” Chong said.
“I think if you look at countries around the world, where they’ve used the power of free markets to become more environmentally sustainable, they’ve also achieved economic growth. That to me is the way of the future.”
He pointed to the bio-refinery at Lakehead University as an example of environmental stewardship working hand-in-hand with the economy.
What the 45-year-old Chong won’t do is mimic U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign of division, which appears to be at the heart of at least a couple of leadership hopefuls’ campaigns to replace former prime minister Stephen Harper atop the Conservative party.
He added the country’s biggest foreign-policy problem will be south of the border.
“Twenty per cent of the Canadian economy is based on exports to the United States. One in five jobs in this economy is directly tied to selling stuff to the United States,” Chong said. “And those job and that trade is at risk because of the new Trump administration’s policies on NAFTA.
“So we need to strengthen our ties with Washington and what that means to me is we need to identify areas around the world in terms of security align with the United States.”
In return for co-operation on those fronts, the borders must remain open for trade, Chong said.
Also running for the Conservative leadership are Chris Alexander, Maxim Bernier, Steven Blaney, Kellie Leitch, Pierre Lemieux, Deepak Obhrai, Kevin O’Leary, Erin O’Toole, Rick Peterson, Lisa Raitt, Andrew Saxton, Andrew Scheer and Brad Trost.
