Conservatives’ efforts bridging the east – west divide (Part 2 of 3)

We R Conservative is a grassroots group that networks tens of thousands of conservative-minded individuals across the country. Pictured: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Heather Forsyth. Photo Credit: Heather Forsyth/X. 

We R CONSERVATIVE (WRC) is a federal registered non-profit political advocacy organization whose mission is raising awareness of the misdeeds of the governing Liberals and of the biased national press corps. This grassroots group networks tens of thousands of conservative-minded individuals across the country. Daily, WRC sends dozens of missives offering hope that things might change, that things can change with a united effort to push back. 

WRC speaks for the Canadian weary of the Trudeau Liberals and a federal government that in no way represents their interests and way of life. The group uses social media platforms and email to circulate current news and commentary on federal political issues to keep its members informed and support those who feel compelled to speak out and fight back against the Trudeau government. 

The organization is led by a feisty, no-nonsense Calgarian, Heather Forsyth, a political activist who is adept at lassoing and masterfully tying a pigging string around any runaway cause before her. For Forsyth, her pursuits are more than sport; it’s about ensuring that what is just and right gets properly tied down.  As a grandmother, she wants no more or less than for the next generation of Canadians to have a promising future within a safe and prosperous country.  

Forsyth has had an action-packed career fighting for the vulnerable and for those wronged. Through the 1990s and 2000s, she was a member of the Alberta legislature where she served as solicitor general and minister of children’s services. She gained international attention championing the Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act, and was responsible for introducing Canada’s first Amber Alert program. She shepherd legislation such as the Drug Endangered Children Act and the Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography Act. Her time in the legislature was productive — Reader’s Digest named Forsyth a “Canadian Hero” for her outstanding dedication to protecting children and youth. 

Since leaving politics, Forsyth has founded the Peanut Butter Classic Society, a non-profit organization that raises funds for charities aiding women and children. She also founded WRC with an enduring hope that the common sense of conservatism will prevail in Canada and her grandchildren will live a life, as she has, as proud Canadians. 

Earlier this spring this author had an opportunity to sit down with Heather Forsyth to discuss her tour de force. (The interview transcript has been shortened for the column length.) 

How important is it for Canadians to see the Trudeau Liberals defeated and a Conservative government elected in 2025?

It is absolutely critical. It’s essential for the unity and economic viability of this nation. If the Trudeau Liberals’ ethos continues to govern in Ottawa, Canada will no longer exist as a strong democracy with peace, order, and good government. We fear we may have already passed the tipping point, but remain hopeful that a change in government will result in a change of course for the country.

What are the priority issues for western conservatives as you see it?  

Westerners require a government that will build a strong, unified country and work to foster a strong economy. The current government is intentionally decimating the resource industries. We have lost so much ground during the Trudeau years. With the changes taking place, the oil and gas industry will come to a natural, inevitable end on its own, but to prematurely kill it off for ideological reasons, the benefits of which don’t outweigh the downside, must come to an end.

We all need governments to be honest with Canadians about what is realistic and achievable on climate change, and look at alternatives to taxation to achieve needed results. Recognize that greenhouse gas emissions know no borders and that helping to reduce global emissions through exporting technology and LNGs will do far more good than playing around with an ineffective tax measure. It’s nuts that we spend more time bickering over who gets more back in rebates on a “climate” policy than we do on analyzing to what extent taxation even works.

Other priorities include getting Canada’s fiscal house in order, fixing immigration, and funding a reinvigorated national defence that takes arctic sovereignty seriously. 

From your perspective, Heather, how do western conservatives’ priorities differ from central/eastern conservatives’ priorities?

I’m not sure they necessarily differ from central/eastern conservatives, other than Quebec. We all value things like growing the economy, setting realistic immigration levels, keeping the budget under control… Probably where westerners differ would be with respect to specific regional grievances. Westerners want to see the equalization formula overhauled and parliament’s seat distribution revised to reflect the reality of its population growth. There is a disproportionate weight given to central Canada and the federal government is run out of the power brokers in Quebec and Toronto. We need a more unified country, recognizing that provincial strengths do not have to be considered a threat to either the federal government or to other provinces. Recognizing that we can be stronger together if we are allowed to be strong individually. Trudeau has done Canada great harm pitting one region against another.  

You mentioned the need to defeat the Trudeau Liberals in the next election. What are the priorities of WRC beyond defeating this Liberal-NDP government?

WRC want strong conservative governments in Ottawa and in every province, and will do what we can to support them all. We want to be a source of information and opinions highlighting conservative values and policies, particularly needed to counter the mainstream media anti-conservative bias. This will be just as important after the Conservatives form government in Ottawa as it is while working to win the support of Canadians.  

Personally, I want to educate Canadians about the importance of letting women compete only against biological women in sports, the importance of allowing women the privacy of their own change rooms without biological men in their space, and the importance of not having biological men living in women’s correctional facilities. I will also continue raising the issue of human trafficking and explaining how it can affect a broader segment of the population than many realize. 

As a western conservative, what message do you wish to convey to conservatives in Ontario, for example the conservatives living in the Niagara Region?

Westerners want a stronger, more united Canada, contrary to how we are depicted in the media. The wedge politics of this Trudeau era must end. Westerners love being part of this country, but things have to change so that we are actually part of it in the fullest sense. 

Western conservatives are not climate-change deniers. Many Canadians see a different path forward than the Liberals for our resource-rich western provinces. The results being achieved with fossil fuel technology combined with central Canada’s EV production, should convince the Liberals that their retail carbon tax is ineffective — it is not a climate change plan, simply a tax plan that swishes money around Ottawa without reducing emissions in any way. 

There are a few more important things. First, that [Premier] Danielle Smith is a proud, common-sense Canadian contrary to how she’s portrayed in the biased, eastern-based media, or by the socialist Liberals and NDP. She stands with other Canadians determined to turn the page on the many destructive Liberal policies. It is quite admirable how she is defending the province, its resources, and what’s important to Albertans — and Canadians. Second, that westerners support your economic endeavours to continue to build and maintain a strong economy in your province, and that we can work together for the benefit of all Canadians. Third, that a strong West is good for the country and, with all regions working together we can achieve a strong, united Canada. 

One final thought. Given how Justin Trudeau and his Liberals have so deliberately and cynically divided Canadians, it is very important for us to realize that conservatives across Canada have the potential to be the unifying voice to help mend the country. Conservatives have that potential. And that is what is driving our group, to see our country strong, prosperous, and united again. 

Heather Forsyth and We R CONSERVATIVE: bridge construction workers who are laying down the conservative ribbons of steel and concrete to span the country’s divide. 

Next week: Oil and gas industry leaders pitching their battles with facts