Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is scheduled to visit Peterborough on Wednesday.
Scheer will be making a campaign-style stop at the Riverview Park and Zoo on Water Street for a barbecue hosted by federal Peterborough-Kawartha Conservative candidate Michael Skinner. The event gets underway at noon and runs until 2 p.m.
Also in attendance will be Jamie Schmale, Conservative MP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, and Philip Lawrence, the Conservatives’ candidate in Northumberland-Peterborough South.
Scheer is expected to be campaigning in that riding on Tuesday night in Cobourg and Port Hope.
The event is free to attend. Participants are asked to register in advance via Skinner’s Facebook page.
The 2019 federal election will mark Skinner’s second run at federal politics. He lost to Liberal incumbent Maryman Monsef in 2015. Other candidates registered so far include the NDP’s Candace Shaw, Alex Murphy of the People’s Party of Canada and Ken Ranney of Stop Climate Change. The Green Party has yet to announce a candidate.
On Tuesday afternoon, Monsef posted a tweet highlighting Scheer and his party’s voting on a number of social issues.
The tweet came after Scheer said earlier on Tuesday that if he were elected prime minister this fall, he would make EI maternity leave benefits tax-free in an effort to assist new parents.
WATCH (Aug. 20, 2019): Scheer says as PM, he’d make EI maternity leave benefits tax-free