TORONTO — The apple cheeked Andrew Scheer, a social conservative and former House of Commons Speaker, shocked the Canadian political scene in knocking off front-runner Maxime Bernier , who was widely expected to win but went home in tears after losing to Scheer on the 13th ballot battle royale last Saturday night in Toronto.
The nail-biting process of winnowing the 13-candidate field went the full distance before Scheer, 38, was declared the winner with just 50.95 per cent of the available points, barely Bernier, who posted 49.05 per cent after leading all 12 of the previous ballots.
“Every single kind of Conservative is welcome in this party and this party belongs to all of you,” the Ottawa-born Saskatchewan MP told the crowd during his victory speech, reported Canadian Press.
“We all know what it looks like when Conservatives are divided; we will not let that happen again. We win when we are united.”
“I’m here to tell you there is renewed hope for Canada, starting today,” Scheer said. “Trudeau’s Liberals are so focused on photo-ops and selfies that they don’t care if their policies hurt and not help the middle class. Sunny ways don’t pay the bills.”
Some see Scheer’s focus on consensus-building as an important brick in the road back to government, much as Harper kept the various factions of the party in check in order to stay in power for more than 10 years. Others, though, accuse him of repressing his opposition to social lighting rods like abortion and same-sex marriage.
“Andrew Scheer has opposed equal marriage and a woman’s right to choose, and has no plan to grow the economy or support Canada’s middle class,” said a statement from the federal Liberal party. “Mr. Scheer’s Conservative Party is deeply out of touch with Canadians, with a divisive agenda that only serves the wealthiest one percent.”
