Prince George-Cariboo M-P Todd Doherty is buzzing following the election of Andrew Scheer as the new leader of the federal Conservatives.
Doherty says it was quite the experience.
“The Converse Centre was packed with members of the party, it was unbelievable and then going into Saturday as you saw the 13 rounds of voting. It was an incredible day.”
Doherty adds they zeroed in on a short list of candidates.
“I think we always thought it would come down to one of 3 whether it was Maxime Bernier, Erin O’Toole, as well as Andrew. All of the candidates are colleagues and friends of ours and I think all of them did an incredible job over the last seven or eight months.”
Scheer was elected party leader with 51% of the vote, beating Bernier who had just 49% of the vote.
He has been the MP for the Saskatchewan-based Regina-Qu’Appelle riding since 2004 and served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015.
Doherty believes the party is in a good spot going forward.
“We’ve got one of the strongest if not the strongest opposition parties ever, that’s because of the strength of our caucus as a whole not at the strength of the few. I think that speaks volumes to the work that Rona Ambrose did.”
Scheer will attempt to run for Prime Minister and lead the Conservatives into power in the 2019 Federal election.
(Files from Brendan Pawliw with MYPRINCEGEORGENOW)