Gotta hand it to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who has managed to embroil himself in the most boring controversy of the current federal election campaign – perhaps in the history of elections. Scheer has been taking considerable and justifiable heat for claiming to have been an insurance broker in his pre-political life.
Turns out he never obtained a license, which would allow him to call himself a “broker,” and was thus confined during his half a year or so of involvement in the industry to handling general clerical tasks, not actually selling insurance.
While it does illustrate the minimal level of non-political life experience Scheer has – he resorts to making himself sound more interesting/experienced by claiming to be an insurance broker – one wonders if he or his handlers could not have come up with a more compelling backstory.
“During my time as a street busker I learned how to juggle everything from tennis balls to steak knives and am therefore eminently qualified to shuffle the numerous priorities required of a prime minister and also how to make the most of a wildly irregular stream of revenue,” he might have claimed.
Instead, Scheer occasionally “regaled” parliament with insights picked up during his days (about 180 by some estimates) of offering indemnification to Saskatchewan residents.
Although video exists of Scheer actually using the word “broker” in reference to himself, the Liberal party’s request that Saskatchewan’s insurance industry watchdogs investigate the claims is probably overkill. While it’s illegal under the Saskatchewan Insurance Act for anyone without a licence to act as a broker or “hold himself out” to be a broker, that provision is probably more to prevent unlicensed individuals from actually selling insurance, than to preclude politicians from pathetically puffing up their resumes.
Also, at most, the Insurance Councils of Saskatchewan might have the power to revoke an offender’s broker’s license, but in Scheer’s case, that’s clearly moot.
Of course, while the whole silly episode is probably unworthy of further investigation, who knows? It may be something Canadians will consider when they finally get to the polls. After all, the truth hurts, especially if you don’t tell it.
