Perhaps it would be best to await former Harper cabinet minister John Baird’s external review of what went wrong in the Conservatives’ election campaign before the stoning of Andrew Scheer continues in earnest.

But, jay-z-uz, is he ever going to stop his self-harming?

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Will a lightbulb ever go off in his head?

In announcing the 50 MPs in his shadow cabinet last week, Scheer had a perfect chance to somewhat mute the cries of the LGBTQ community for his negative personal views on same-sex marriage.

In his new caucus, Scheer has a young, bright, openly-gay MP named Eric Duncan, a rookie representing the eastern Ontario riding of Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry.

But Scheer shunned him.

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Despite having the room for another Opposition critic on his roster, and quell some of the stoning, Scheer could not convince himself to have Duncan sitting around the shadow cabinet’s table with him.

Instead, Duncan was relegated to the anonymity of the back benches.

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Now, if Duncan was as dumb as a post and an underachiever Scheer might have a decent argument for not tapping his shoulder.

But Duncan is neither.

Even during the campaign that made him the party’s first openly gay MP, Duncan was touting inclusiveness.

“We’re ready to go for the election and I wouldn’t be running if I had any inkling, whatsoever, that I wasn’t welcomed or my sexual orientation wasn’t welcome in the Conservative Party,” he said.

Define welcome?

For many local Conservatives, Duncan had been heir-apparent to retiring Tory MP Guy Lauzon for quite some time. He worked for the veteran MP as his executive assistant and chief of staff for nine years, even while serving as a councillor and then mayor in North Dundas.

But no shadow cabinet post.

Duncan, now 31, was one of the youngest when he was elected a councillor in his town at age 18. And then, at 22, he was elected mayor.

He also made history as the youngest warden ever elected in his riding’s 168-year history, and then the first warden to be re-elected consecutively.

The fact that Duncan is also openly-gay, a rare bird among Conservatives, gave Scheer the perfect opportunity to look less puritan and immovable.

But he blew it.

If Duncan had been tapped, it would have helped reverse the optics of Ed Fast refusing Scheer’s invitation of a shadow cabinet post earlier this week.

Once a solid member of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, Fast turned the post down over a lack of confidence in Scheer’s leadership.

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Also no longer in the Scheer shadow cabinet is Rachael Harder, 31, the party’s status of women critic in the last Parliament.

It was her anti-abortion stance that got Harder booted from chairing the House of Commons’ status of women committee when the Liberal and NDP MPs walked out on her for her pro-life position.

One would think she’s be perfect for Scheer’s shadow cabinet, but perhaps Scheer sees too much of himself in the Alberta MP, or sees her as a lightning rod that he just doesn’t need.

It seems not to matter now but, if Harder were fired from a job in the private sector, or from the public service, for the same reason she got dumped as committee chair, she would have a legitimate claim that her Charter rights had been violated.

But, in the ugly trenches of today’s federal politics, it’s somehow become perfectly acceptable to discriminate against people with opposing social views.

The Charter obviously carries little weight among lawmakers.