Andrew Scheer finds himself in a familiar place - at least for a little while.
Yesterday, Conservatives named Scheer Leader of the Official Opposition on an interim basis. That is until a by-election is held in Alberta for Pierre Poilievre to get another try to win seat in the House of Commons after he was defeated by Liberal Bruce Fanjoy in a stunning upset in his Ottawa area riding in last week's federal election.
Scheer was previously leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Official Opposition between 2017 and 2020. Under his leadership, the Tories actually won the popular vote in the 2019 federal election, increasing the party's seat total by 26. But Justin Trudeau's Liberals managed to secure a minority government and Scheer was soon forced to step down.
Now, Scheer is back in the spotlight, if only briefly. But who knows? Maybe Scheer will prove to be an effective leader and hold his own with Prime Minister Carney over the next several months. If he does, then maybe Scheer will get better poll numbers than both Carney and Poilievre and he might decide to stay.
Mind you, this is a remote possibility. Scheer and Poilievre were both originally elected to the House of Commons in 2004 when they were all of 25-years-old. Scheer is exactly two weeks older than Poilievre. Scheer has stood up for Poilievre and the odds of any opposition party pulling off in Battle River-Crowfoot what Fanjoy pulled off in Carleton are very, very small. I am sure there are those who would argue the possibility of Poilievre beating defeated in rural Alberta as sheer madness. Or perhaps Scheer madness.
But what would happen if Poilievre did somehow lose in rural Alberta? Then Poilievre would be toast. Would the Tories give Scheer a second chance at the job permanently? Or would the memories of 2019 be enough for the Tories to demand yet another leadership convention?
Needless to say, the Tories do not want these questions to come to pass. They merely want Scheer to keep Poilievre's seat warm.
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