Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his team have created a campaign to defend his leadership position as voices calling for his removal start to organize.
Team Scheer was launched this week with the goal of organizing his supporters ahead of the 2020 Conservative Party Convention.
“Rather than focusing on beating Justin Trudeau, some are trying to tear our party apart from the inside,” Team Scheer said in its first Facebook post.
“Andrew Scheer can defeat Justin Trudeau and win the next election, but only if we stay united.”
Scheer has faced growing pressure to resign since the Conservative Party failed to win the 2019 federal election, placing second to the Justin Trudeau Liberals.
Despite winning the popular vote, the Conservative Party failed to capture the most seats in the House of Commons.
The Conservative Party Convention in April 2020 includes a leadership review that will determine whether or not Scheer remains as leader. Pro-Scheer and Anti-Scheer forces appear to be organizing supporters ahead of that key vote.
Shortly after the election, a campaign named Scheer Must Go was launched calling for Scheer’s removal as leader.
Since then, another group called Conservative Victory has been created to advocate for Scheer to either step aside willingly or be voted out.
“When a political leader fails, they resign,” Conservative Victory’s website says.
“Andrew Scheer should immediately step aside as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.”
Among the founders of Conservative Victory include Jeff Ballingall, founder of the group Canada Proud, Kory Teneycke, who ran Doug Ford’s leadership campaign, and John Reyolds, a former Conservative MP.
Both Reyolds and Teneycke campaigned for Maxime Bernier in the 2017 Conservative Party Leadership Race.
“Our hope is to get Andrew to resign as leader and, [if] he wants to continue, to enter into a leadership race as a candidate,” Teneycke told the Globe and Mail.
The Conservative Party of Canada Convention will be held April 16-18 in Toronto.
