Andrew Scheer is now the Conservative to watch

Sooner or later, every ego trip must come to an end.

Television personality Kevin O’Leary has realized he can’t speak fluent French. Therefore he has no political traction in powerful Quebec, and therefore he cannot win a general election for the Conservative Party of Canada.

For most of us, this would have been a reason not to enter the race for Conservative leader in the first place. Even a casual observer knows that it’s politically impossible to lead Canada unless you speak both French and English well.

But perhaps O’Leary enjoys the spotlight too much for sober strategy sessions. He deftly timed his entry into the race to avoid a French-language debate. He timed his exit to happen a few hours before Wednesday’s debate.

While in the game, he handily outpolled his rival candidates and enjoyed lots of media attention.

Now, while ballots that include his name are being mailed to party members, O’Leary has thrown his support to Maxime Bernier. This is a huge game-changer. Party members should think hard about the potential consequences before they vote.

According to Mainstreet Research, which polled more than 2,100 Conservative members across the country last week, Bernier is third in popularity, just behind Andrew Scheer.

Bernier is a hard-core libertarian. He may not have been as noisy as O’Leary or rival Kellie Leitch, but he would change Canadian society more radically than either of them.

Bernier favours a flat income tax, an end to supply management for dairy and poultry producers, and privatizing Canada Post.

He would ditch federal subsidies for business, and dismantle the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates radio and television. He is also deeply critical of the equalization program in which richer provinces financially assist poorer ones.

These kinds of ideas may be appealing to the Conservative party members who will vote for the leader next month.

But, as Wilfrid Laurier University political science professor Barry Kay points out, members of any political party are also members of the elite. They’re better educated, wealthier, older and more politically engaged.

They are definitely not the same kind of people as those who will vote in a general election two years from now. Conservative party members will have to decide based not only on who appeals to them today, but also on who is likely to appeal to all the voters later. Enter Andrew Scheer. Scheer grew up in Ottawa and moved out West as a young man. He represents a riding in Regina and was the youngest House Speaker in Canadian history.

He is bilingual, well-liked by caucus colleagues, a savvy organizer, and can unify the various political wings within his party. Support for him is rising.

He has already said that everything he does is geared to persuading Cana-

dians who might not normally vote Conservative to take another look.

“He doesn’t scare off people by being too far, ideologically, to the right or the left,” Kay said.

Now that O’Leary is out of the race, it “looks really good for Scheer,” he said.

If moderate Conservatives decide to counter Bernier by getting behind one candidate, Scheer is the one to watch.