Kellie Leitch: Canada's Compliment to President-elect Donald Trump

Dr. Kellie Leitch, Member of Parliament for Simcoe-Grey (Ontario) and leadership candidate for the
Conservative Party of Canada. Photo: National Post/John Ivison

Back in mid-November'2016, I wrote a blog post, Donald Trump's Election: A Call to Christians to Get Back Into The Political Arena, expressing my elation over the election of Donald Trump. It was at the end of that same post that I also expressed my hope that Canadians would draw from the American experience—what is now referred to as the Trump-effect—and seek out common-sense-conservative Christians who would be willing to change the political landscape, first and foremost, beginning with a candidate for the Prime Minister of Canada.

That individual has emerged in the leadership race for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), Dr. Kellie Leitch, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Member of Parliament for Simcoe-Grey (Ontario), and fellow Catholic.

Leitch formally registered as a candidate in early April'2016, and together with her assembled team, worked very hard in preparation for her official campaign launch, which she held in mid-October at her home riding. Leitch's campaign launch speech is on YouTube and is well worth watching, especially for those who are considering joining the Conservative Party of Canada to support her campaign.

For those seriously considering joining the CPC to vote for Kellie Leitch, there is a deadline! In order to vote for the new leader, you must hold an active membership to the Conservative Party. If you’re not a member, you must buy a membership before March 28! 

Since April, Leitch has been considered the front-runner and her support has been growing ever since, both in terms of membership and fundraising. By November, Mainstreet-Postmedia's national poll had Kellie leading the pack with 19% which put into perspective is an extremely significant lead, considering there were eleven other candidates. 

Mainstreet-Postmedia poll published on November 9, 2016, showing Kellie Leitch in the lead. Photo: Mainstreet-Postmedia/‘Canada’s Donald Trump’ Leads Conservative Leadership Race

The growing support has been confirmed by Nick Kouvalis's (Kellie Leitch's Campaign Manager) campaign update email that I received on January 2, 2017. As of that email, Leitch has 1,500 registered volunteers, which in of itself is an excellent indication of her support base, and as Kouvalis puts it, "...[I]s an important metric in any political campaign and very significant in this leadership race."

That significance becomes even better understood when considering that the leadership race will be decided on May 27, 2017, and that the maximum contribution by any individual cannot exceed $1,500. This further spotlights just how valuable and needed volunteers are because much of the important and necessary work ahead, in large part, will be accomplished by Leitch's volunteers.

If you are wondering what some of that important volunteer work is, Kouvalis supplied that information further in his email. He listed the five essential aspects of a successful campaign, of which three, four, and five on the list are not possible without at least 1,000 or more volunteers:

1. Propose policies that resonate with the large existing base of legacy CPC members
2. Propose policies that clearly differentiate their candidate from the other candidates
3. The ability to raise and spend at least $1 Million from January to May'2017, to put forth a serious and comprehensive campaign in every part of the country
4. The ability to sell tens of thousands of memberships, and
5. To ability to GOTV (get out the vote) of tens of thousands of identified supporters.

Based on the necessity of the volunteer work for a successful campaign, Kouvalis firmly believes that due to Leitch's strong support base, she will be on the final ballot and win the leadership race!

Other factors that have been a big bonus in drawing support for Kellie's campaign are her unparalleled work ethic and compassion for others. Together these two qualities have attracted many long-time members into the campaign as supporters, donors and volunteers.

Add to this Leitch's ability to connect with Canadians and to speak on their behalf, has led her campaign in the signing up thousands of new members to the party. As Kouvalis pointed out in his email, no other campaign has signed up the number of members that Leitch's campaign has so far.

Kouvalis went on to point out that Leitch has built up a significant national campaign and broad coalition across the nation, indicated by the following:

• Leitch is leading in support among "Decided" Members on the first ballot
• Leitch is leading in support among "Undecided" Members who are leaning toward a candidate
• Leitch is leading in support among "Decided" Members' second ballot choice
• Leitch continued to show steady growth in every region, month after month, from September to December
• December was the best month for both membership sales and fundraising.

As recently as of January 13, Kellie has stated in an interview with Stephen LeDrew on CP24, that two-thirds of Canadians support her vision for Canada.

Kellie Leitch's Education and Work Experience

Leitch's life accomplishments are a litany of impressive details. Although born in Winnipeg, Leitch lived in Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a youth, where her father started a construction company and built a significant part of the city during the early days of Canada’s oil sands.

Leitch learned the value of hard work early when she ran her own moving and courier company; she gained an understanding of how to deal with clients, manage staff and balance the books.

Leitch's educational achievements are quite outstanding: she graduated from Queen's University in 1991, with her undergraduate degree; she received a medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1994; an MBA from Dalhousie University in 1998; completed the Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program in 2001, at the University of Toronto; and she pursued special training as a fellow of clinical pediatric orthopedics at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, an affiliated hospital with the University of Southern California.

Leitch is considered among the best of her generation, acknowledged as such when she was selected as one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40, for her work in both medicine and business in 2005. Leitch has also received the Order of Ontario for her work advocating for children and youth, an honour bestowed upon remarkable Ontarians who effortlessly give back to their communities.

First elected as a Member of Parliament in 2011, for Simcoe-Grey, Ontario, Kellie gained respect among her peers for being smart, tough, and hardworking. Leitch served as Minister of Labour and the Minister for the Status of Women in the previous Conservative government, under former Prime Minister Steven Harper.

Leitch has been involved with many aspects of the Conservative Party of Canada since she was fourteen: installing lawn signs, running a campus club, managing campaigns, and serving on the Party executive.

It is the combination of Leitch's education and experience, both on a personal and professional level, in the private sector and in public life, that has made Kellie an ideal candidate for the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Leitch's five priorities that will create more freedom, prosperity, and protect our unified Canadian identity

Kellie Leitch's five priorities. Image by Kellie Leitch.

As of this post, Leitch has twelve policy statements that can be found at her web site, under the Policy menu item, five of which are her priorities for creating more freedom, more prosperity, and for the protection of our unified Canadian identity: screening all visitors, refugees and immigrants for Canadian values; putting a cap of government spending; no national carbon tax; dismantle the CBC; and against the legalization of marijuana.

Of the five priorities, screening all visitors, refugees and immigrants for Canadian values, first caught my attention and drew me to Leitch's campaign. This is partly due to the reckless immigration policy and procedures of the Liberal government, who after winning the federal election in October'2015 began to fast-track the emigration of more than 25,000 so-called Syrian "refugees" between November 4, 2015, and February 29, 2016, into Canada.

The numbers continue to increase! According to the Government of Canada, as of January 2, 2017, the total number of Syrian "refugees" that have entered into Canada is 39,671. All this has been done at a cost to Canadian tax payers of $400 Million and growing!

Confirmation of an increase in refugees for 2017, was recently given by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who stated on January 12, during a town-hall meeting from his cross-country tour to meet with Canadians, that his government's intention is to increase the number of refugees into Canada, and that he is determined to do this regardless of other countries closing their borders out of fear of the impact mass migration might have on their societies.

Immigration should be a concern for all Canadians especially in light of Europe's ongoing migrant crisis and the demographic nightmare it has visibly created in countries such as: Germany, Sweden, France, UK, Italy, and many others as well. 

Canadians need only look to the United States to see how a similar situation has been created by the Obama administration's unwanted Syrian refugee resettlement program.

Much in the same manner that President-elect Donald Trump was the sole candidate who introduced America's immigration problem into the GOP leadership race, making it a central issue to which all the other candidates had to address, so too has Kellie Leitch done likewise in the leadership race for the CPC. Like President-elect Donald Trump, she is the only candidate with an effective plan to tackle the immigration issue; the screening of all immigrants, refugees, and visitors for Canadian values.

Screening Visitors, Refugees, and Immigrants For Canadian Values

Leitch has been talking about Canadian values and a unified Canadian identity for months; a message that has resonated well with millions of Canadians. Like President-elect Donald Trump, she has been the only candidate who has been unafraid to challenge the status quo, and the political correctness that the mainstream media—or to quote Pamela Geller, the "enemedia"—and the elites have imposed upon Canadians.

Kellie Leitch on January 13, 2016, in an interview with CP24's Stephen LeDrew, where she talked about
Canadian values and a shared Canadian identity, that two-thirds of Canadians agree with and aspire to.
Photo: CP24/Leitch on immigration screening

In her travels across the country, Leitch has spoken to thousands of Canadians, many of whom believe in and aspire to a unified Canadian identity that is grounded on shared values: 

• Equal opportunity - We must strive to ensure that everyone has as much of an equal opportunity to succeed as possible, especially our youth.
• Hard work – Everyone must work hard and provide for themselves and their families.
• Helping others – Once people become prosperous, we all are expected to give back to our communities to help others.
• Generosity – Canada is a place that shows what is possible when hard work and generosity come together.
• Freedom and tolerance – A Canadian identity that is based on freedom and tolerance to allow each of us the chance to pursue our best lives and to become our best selves. 

Leitch's policy statement, Screening For Canadian Values, referred to these common values as what makes our country great. She stressed that growing and developing our Canadian identity entails that we protect our values by screening those who want to come to Canada. It is for this reason that Leitch has proposed screening immigrants, refugees, and visitors, for anti-Canadian values.

In order to this do properly, face-to-face interviews are mandatory! Sadly in Canada, only one in five applicants receive such interviews. This fact alone should concern all Canadians, especially since Trudeau's government plans to increase immigration to 300,000 for 2017.

To further spotlight how this should concern all Canadians, Leitch provided some interesting facts about immigration procedures. Since 2001, governments have become obsessed with immigration numbers, so much so, that immigration officials are faced with increased pressure to approve many applications each day. The expectation has been that immigration officials make decisions on seventy-five applications each day! 

This amounts to less than five minutes for each application! It only begs the question, what compromises are being made during the decision making process? Whatever the answers may be to that question, one thing is for certain, this is not the way to build a nation based on shared values.

Leitch feels very strongly about nation-building, and that is why she is running to be the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and the next Prime Minister in 2019. 

If you have yet to discover Kellie Leitch, I respectfully encourage you to visit her campaign web site, Kellie Leitch. There you will find important details on: Leitch's biography, a concise summary of her impressive education and work experience that is further detailed at her Profile on line document; her twelve policy statements; opportunities to become a Conservative member for Kellie; volunteer and donate to her campaign; and connect with Leitch on social media.

Above all, do keep Kellie Leitch in your prayers.