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A year ago, no one outside of perhaps Barrie, Ont. knew who Patrick Brown was.

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That was before the Alberta Progressive Conservatives imploded; before Stephen Harper lost power in Ottawa; before Newfoundland appeared ready in Monday’s election to ditch the country’s last conservative-branded government (although Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party is conservative by another name); And before an existential malaise took hold in small- and big-C corners, where the faithful wondered what’s left of the movement.

And before all that, Brown became on May 9 the leader of the Ontario PC party. The next day, his team say the campaign to take back the premier’s office began.

Six months in, Brown remains an enigma, with political watchers, pundits and even some members of his own party still wondering what exactly he stands for and how he plans to win back the premier’s office. By the time Ontario next goes to the polls, the party that ruled the province for much of the 20th century, will have been shut out of power for 15 years.