LIVE COVERAGE: The Conservative leadership race ends tonight

The Conservative leadership race came to an end tonight with Andrew Scheer, a longtime Saskatchewan MP and former Speaker of the House of Commons, narrowly beating out long-time favourite Maxime Bernier.

Rona Ambrose has served as Interim leader since Stephen Harper stepped down after losing the federal election in 2015; Scheer will now lead the Tories in their bid to unseat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2019.

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READ MORE: Andrew Scheer elected Conservative Party leader in major upset

The contenders were Maxime Bernier, Kellie Leitch, Michael Chong, Andrew Scheer, Lisa Raitt, Deepak Obhrai, Chris Alexander, Steven Blaney, Erin O’Toole, Pierre Lemieux, Rick Peterson, Andrew Saxton and Brad Trost.

Bernier had led throughout the previous 12 ballots, but finished a close second with 49.05 per cent.