Photo by Whitehorse Star
Ryan Leef
Leef plans to help Bernier secure the Tory party leadership
Former Yukon MP Ryan Leef is getting back into the political game.
Former Yukon MP Ryan Leef is getting back into the political game.
He will serve as the campaign co-chair for the North for Conservative Party leadership candidate Maxime Bernier.
The Quebec MP made the announcement Tuesday.
“Maxime Bernier is the only candidate who understands how to unleash the economic potential of Northern Canada,” Leef said in a statement.
“He is a principled politician with clear policies and a full appreciation for the unique cultural communities and their contributions to the northern landscape and Canada’s past, present, and future.”
“To defeat Justin Trudeau in 2019, we need to paint the North Conservative blue,” Bernier said.
“Liberal policies, like a carbon tax, have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of people in the North.
“I am proud to have the support of Ryan Leef, who will help us fight against a carbon tax and other damaging Liberal policies.”
Leef defeated then-Yukon MP Larry Bagnell in the May 2011 election to begin a five-year run as the territory’s MP until Bagnell unseated him in the October 2015 election.
Leef served on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources and the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
He chaired the Northern Caucus under former prime minister Stephen Harper, was a member of the Public Safety Committee, and led the Canadian delegation on the Standing Committee of Arctic Parliamentarians.
The former conservation officer was also co-chair of the Conservative Hunting and Angling Caucus and played a key role in advocating for the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Ontario MP Tony Clement, who has withdrawn his leadership bid, and former MPs John Reynolds and Gary Lunn are among the current and former politicians supporting Bernier, who was a member of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet.
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Comments (15)
Up 2 Down 0
Jonathan Colby on Dec 27, 2016 at 1:13 pm
"I have been away from Whitehorse, so I know much."
Ah, WC, what would we do without you?
Up 3 Down 9
Ryan you are supporting the wrong candiate on Dec 26, 2016 at 3:30 pm
I have traveled for the last six weeks including Montreal and they don't want him. He does not have it.
Trudeau is killing the Canadian economy and taking Canada in the wrong direction the wrong way.
Most liberals are fed up with him.
The Yukon will lose over a billion dollars under this Prime Minister.
Just like his father Canada ends at at the western border.
Take it or leave it approach.
Up 23 Down 2
Cranky on Dec 25, 2016 at 7:41 am
Leef's comment re. "Unleashing the economic potential of the North" is telling, given that he is the booking manager for Jim Shockey, a BC based big game outfitter who is absolutely hammering the old Rogue River outfitting area. I can just imagine what Leef imagines our economic future to be.
Up 22 Down 5
Adele Sandrock on Dec 23, 2016 at 11:18 am
Leef plans to show Bernier how to conduct a private Citizens Arrest * jay*.
Up 28 Down 3
Gary Liddy on Dec 23, 2016 at 10:09 am
Does the El Leefo know that Bernier is from a province that's presently implementing a gun registry ?
I-R-O-N-Y
Up 27 Down 7
Alex Gandler on Dec 22, 2016 at 5:10 pm
SO - the Leefster is trying to get back into the game.
Will he be guarding Bernier's campaign signs ?
Will he once again don his camo gear, handcuffs and night vision goggles ?
Will he battle his nemesis Socialist Girl one more time ?
Stay tuned dear readers
NA NA NA NA NA NA ----- LEEF MAN !
Up 15 Down 7
June Jackson on Dec 22, 2016 at 4:28 pm
OMG I love these comments. I am delighted to see so many posters. There is strength in numbers.
JC: really appreciate your comments on other issues as well.
Up 14 Down 5
Rick Rondelet on Dec 22, 2016 at 2:13 pm
Let me paraphrase just this once
“Conservative policies, like the GST, have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of people in the North."
Up 30 Down 4
Gordon of Riverdale on Dec 22, 2016 at 9:15 am
“Maxime Bernier is the only candidate who understands how to unleash the economic potential of Northern Canada"
YEESH - such puffery.
There are 13 or 14 other people looking for Harper's old job and most of them can handle Northern economies better than lawyer turned career politician Bernier
Up 34 Down 7
James W. Brent on Dec 22, 2016 at 8:05 am
Hopeless Leef and hapless Bernier are well matched. Like Fred and Bernie from another cartoon of their appropriate period. Riding dinosaurs into the sunset (we hope).
Up 36 Down 2
Tom Stevens on Dec 22, 2016 at 7:36 am
Who cares!!!
Up 36 Down 4
Wolfe on Dec 22, 2016 at 7:10 am
Once a pup gets a taste of milk..it is hard to ween it off of the source!
Up 36 Down 4
jc on Dec 21, 2016 at 10:07 pm
As a conservative and an early supporter of Ryan, he has been a great disappointment to me. And I'm certainly no fan of Mad Max either. And my question is, do we really need another Quebecer running Canada from Quebec. For myself, I'm tired of Quebec getting 1/3 of everything. So, sorry Ryan, don't expect much help from Yukoners.
Up 32 Down 6
Red Hay on Dec 21, 2016 at 4:56 pm
Bernier was kicked out of Harper's cabinet in 2008.
I'll take Corporal Camouflage's "He is a principled politician" recommendation with a BAG of salt.
Up 34 Down 5
Dean Larue on Dec 21, 2016 at 4:37 pm
LMAO - "campaign co-chair for the North for Conservative Party leadership
candidate Maxime Bernier" is actually a thing ?