If body language is any indication, Maxime Bernier was the most shocked person in the hall when it was clear that Andrew Scheer was going to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
But the second-most surprised person was probably Andrew Scheer.
READ MORE: Andrew Scheer elected Conservative Party leader in major upset
Scheer was expected to finish a respectable second to front-runner Bernier, but if one thing became crystal clear as the voting progressed, it was that Conservatives didn’t want Bernier as their leader; his vote total never grew as many thought it would.
WATCH: Andrew Scheer wins Conservative leadership race
So Scheer wins by the slimmest of margins, but as the dust settles, there are more questions than answers.
READ MORE: Liberals brand Conservative leadership winner Scheer as social conservative extremist
Did Scheer really just win the “anybody but Bernier” sweepstakes, in the same way that Stephane Dion won the “anybody but Ignatieff” sweepstakes at the Liberal convention in 2006?
We all know how that ended for the Liberals and for Dion.
READ MORE: Who is Andrew Scheer?
Scheer appears to be a much more congenial and more media savvy leader than his old boss, Stephen Harper, but what kind of a leader will he be?
Will he be influenced by the hard right social conservatives, who clearly had a part in his victory, or will he move the party to a more moderate position?
Sheer’s greatest challenge? It’s one thing to win a contest among faithful conservatives, it’s quite another to win the hearts and minds of a very diverse Canadian public.
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