Political scientist says Scheer could do well in leadership race

Though Andrew Scheer hasn’t made it official, if and when he throws his hat into the ring for the Conservative Party leadership he could go a long way.

Jim Farney is a political scientist at the University of Regina. Speaking to the CJME Morning Show, he said there are quite a few people in the race right now, and it could work in  the Regina-Qu’Appelle M.P.’s favour.

“It’s going to come down to are you second, third, and fourth choice of a lot of people, and I think Scheer’s going to likely build a coalition that’s got room to grow like that.”

Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Tony Clement, Deepak Obhrai, and Kellie Leitch have all put their names into the race.

Earlier this summer Scheer said he was considering a bid for the leadership. On Tuesday, Scheer announced he was stepping down as Opposition house leader in the House of Commons and is expected to make an announcement putting himself in the leadership race soon.

“My consultations about a possible run for the Conservative Leadership have been very encouraging and I would like to continue to explore the feasibility of such an endeavor,” Scheer said in a written statement to media. 

Farney said Scheer’s almost four years as Speaker of the House of Commons could help him in the race.

“It’s going to be the first time ever a speaker really gets back into partisan politics this way, and he’s going to have to figure out how to talk about that … He’ll be able to say ‘listen, we’ve decided it’s time for a change as a party,’ and I’m practically speaking of a fresh, but experienced face.”

Though, Farney said if businessman and commentator, Kevin O’Leary, gets into the race it would blow all the predictions out of the water.

The Conservative Party will vote for its new leader in May 2017.