- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

After a 14 month campaign, the Conservative Party of Canada has a new leader. Andrew Scheer won by a less than 2% margin over presumed front-runner Maxime Bernier in the 13th round of a preferential ballot process.

In Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound (BGOS) , Erin O'Toole was holding the lead until the 9th round, when the balance began to tip to a two-man race for the remaining five counts of the ranked ballots.

Bernier lost his own Quebec riding over his opposition to supply management, the policy that controls the price to Canadian farmers for dairy, eggs and poultry. The issue may have been a factor in the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound vote, where Bernier was in third place for the first eight ballot counts and never rose above second.

Before being eliminated from the race In the 9th ballot count, Simcoe-Grey MP Kellie Leitch rose to 9% of the BGOS votes, slightly higher than her national support.

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Larry Miller hosted the leadership candidates at a barbecue in early May, but he held his cards close to the vest, encouraging local members to make their own choices. Early in the campaign, Miller spoke of the respect he had for friends and colleagues in the race, and that whatever the outcome, he would be ready to work with the new leader.

Andrew Scheer has made it clear that his goal is unity within the Conservative party as it seeks to replace the Trudeau government in 2019.

Whether Scheer's firm "axe the carbon tax" stand on the Liberal's carbon tax, his support for tax credits for independent school fees and his other socially conservative positions cause Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown complications in the upcoming 2018 election campaign remains to be seen.