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The Conservative leadership race is finally getting interesting. With barely a few weeks to go until the Conservative Party elects its new leader, a recent poll by Nanos Research has shown a surprising fact: When asked who they think has the best chance of beating Justin Trudeau in 2019, respondents across the country chose Maxime Bernier and Michael Chong as the frontrunners.

With Bernier polling at nearly 20 per cent compared to Chong’s seven per cent, there is of course a huge gap between the two longtime MPs. But the fact that the next most popular candidates – Lisa Raitt, Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole – all polled at below four per cent makes it clear that Bernier and Chong have been running campaigns that are having a far greater impact on the general electorate than any of the other leadership candidates.

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As a moderate member of the Conservative Party, I draw two lessons from this poll: first, that party members should look long and hard at these numbers while they are casting their votes; and second, that the elevation of Chong and Bernier to front-runner status in the minds of Canadians represents a massive shift in how the general electorate thinks about some key policy issues, such as supply management, privatization, tax reform and economic liberalization in general. Chong and Bernier have both offered platforms which, if implemented, would represent a veritable revolution in Canadian economic policy. That these two individuals appear to be popular amongst the public proves that their platforms are resonating.