Aylward meets with Scheer at Conservative convention in Halifax

The Conservative Party of Canada held a policy convention in Halifax on the weekend, and some Island Tories were in attendance.

P.E.I. Progressive Conservative leader James Aylward participated as a non-voting member. Sylvia Poirier was also there as P.E.I.'s member of the party's national council.

The federal Conservatives and provincial PCs are two different parties, but Aylward met with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer on Saturday to discuss P.E.I. issues.

"It's a great opportunity to get out and advocate on behalf of P.E.I. and let our issues be known," Aylward told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier.

"The issues I raised to Andrew with regards to things Islanders are telling me — high taxation, health care, education, affordable housing, the carbon tax — those are all things that are important to Andrew Scheer as well."

Carbon tax not needed, Aylward says

P.E.I. is already a leader in environmental initiatives without having a carbon tax, Aylward said, pointing to wind energy and the plant that heats most of Charlottetown's larger buildings.

"I don't think we need to [meet emission targets] by putting our hands in Islanders' pockets even deeper than we currently are.... It's really a sense of making a priority where you're spending the hard-earned tax dollars here on P.E.I."

Aylward also met with Jason Kenney, a former federal cabinet minister and now the leader of Alberta's United Conservative Party.

"We had an in-depth conversation about how P.E.I. and Alberta complement each other, particularly with the work force."

Bernier quits the party

The beginning of the convention was overshadowed on Thursday when former cabinet minister Maxime Bernier announced he was quitting the party to form his own.

Poirier, a former president of the P.E.I. PC Party, said there wasn't much talk about Bernier over the weekend, beyond the initial news breaking.

"It was probably deliberate timing, but it didn't have the effect, I don't think, that Mr. Bernier hoped or expected."

'Little to no division'

The process followed for the convention allows everyone to raise issues important to them, Poirier said. Members can bring up issues for a year prior to the convention, and then they are discussed in smaller groups.

If the issue makes it through the small groups, it is presented for discussion at the larger convention.

"Only those policies supported by a majority of the members actually come forth and become policy for the Conservative Party. The process is solid and as a result, there's little to no division."

Energy East gets unanimous support

One resolution sought to remove a pledge that a Tory government would not support any legislation to regulate abortion.

The resolution would have opened up the issue for further debate and free a Conservative government to introduce anti-abortion legislation. 

The resolution failed by a vote of 53 to 47 per cent.

"The Conservative [Party's] position on abortion, is simply that we will not reopen, or will not say anything more specific, that it remains a neutral subject," Poirier said.

Poirier said a group of young people wanted to do away with supply management, but it didn't get very far. The Energy East pipeline and opposition to a carbon tax were met with unanimous support, she said.

"Because it's a fair and transparent process, members are willing to accept the decisions of the majority."

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