Article content continued

10:25 Stephen Harper is here! Just kidding; now that he’s out of politics the famously asocial Harper will likely never attend another pub night until he is dead. However, many Conservatives got so used to seeing Harper lead the party that it’s probably why so many of them ended up running to succeed him. “I could do that,” they probably thought. Of course, only now are they discovering the madness of attempting to keep a Canadian conservative party from getting all squirrelly.

10:31 Pierre Lemieux addresses a small circle of entranced young supporters as he tells them that the days of being silenced for one’s social conservative views are over. Now, they can be debated. But just as quickly, Lemieux dismisses the gathering. “I have to finish these ribs,” he says, turning to some ribs.

10:40 Spotted: A man in a blue “Make Canada Wonderful Again” hat. This is presumably an endorsement for O’Leary. That, or he just really likes the Everclear song “Wonderful.”

10:46 Again with the selfies. Chris Alexander tells Andrew Saxton and a young supporter “alright guys; selfie.”

10:52 Alexander lost his seat in the last election, so he has more time to devote to this race than most. His French is tip-top, he’s essentially a child prodigy and, more than any other, his platform is filled with visions of foreign policy triumphs. Standing at Craft’s bar, Alexander describes the lure of political power almost the way a musician describes the thrill of a tight jazz band. When things are really moving — and everything’s working as planned —there’s really nothing like it.

11:26 And Andrew Saxton, of all candidates, closes the place. Steven Blaney, Chris Alexander, Rick Peterson, Andrew Scheer, Pierre Lemieux, Kellie Leitch, Kevin O’Leary and Erin O’Toole all turned in early (“I’ve got to get up early to go to Red Deer”) but the Sax Man held out almost until midnight. As our correspondent leaves, only a small handful of drunk Wildrose staffers remain.

• Email: thopper@nationalpost.com | Twitter: TristinHopper