Conservatives around the world have sought to shake up the political status quo in the last year, voting for Britain to leave the European Union, electing a complete political neophyte as president of the United States.For a time, it looked like Canadian conservatives were headed down a similar path.For the first 12 rounds of counting Saturday night, the leader they were poised to elect was Maxime Bernier, a Quebec MP with a libertarian bent whose policy proposals included slaying sacred cows like supply management in agriculture and federal health care funding.Read more:All your Andrew Scheer questions answeredAndrew Scheer wins Conservative leadership in major upsetBut in the end, the Tories couldn’t bring themselves to do it, instead handing Andrew Scheer the keys to the Opposition leader’s residence, giving him 50.95 per cent of the available points over Bernier’s 49.05.Scheer’s campaign slogan was “Scheer excitement,” and there was no doubt in the aftermath of his win supporters were vibrating with just that.“He just hit the right balance of values and experience and he was a very genuine person,” supporter Leslie Whicher said.“He’s the kind of person the whole team can rally around. He’s not too far on one direction or another.”In his platform with boutique tax cuts, tough talk on extremism, even his release of his “five key priorities,” Scheer was also the candidate many saw as any echo of Stephen Harper, the party’s first and only leader.So what came to mind for some observers was a button available on the leadership event floor reading “Scheer Bored.”Scheer is the “Goldilocks” candidate, not too hot, not too cold, said Gerry Nicholls, the former vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobby group.“I guess they call them conservatives for a reason,” he said.“They didn’t ...
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