A 19-year-old social conservative is poised to become the youngest MPP in Ontario history next month.

Sam Oosterhoff, a Brock University student, stunned Progressive Conservatives on Saturday night, winning the nomination for a Nov. 17 byelection in the Niagara seat long held by former PC leader Tim Hudak.

Oosterhoff’s upset over party president Rick Dykstra is a blow to PC Leader Patrick Brown, who has recently broken with social conservatives over the sex-education flip-flop in the Sept. 1 Scarborough-Rouge River byelection.

During the Niagara West-Glanbrook nomination battle, the first year political science student vowed to be “a voice for common-sense, pro-family policies and concerns” when he squares off against Liberal lawyer Vicky Ringuette next month.

“I will never waver in my support of parents as primary educators, and I will strive to ensure that parental rights are respected in education,” said Oosterhoff, echoing the concerns expressed by opponents of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s updated health syllabus that includes lessons about gender expression, same-sex relationships, and the risks of sexting.

Some of the teenager’s supporters marched with pro-life placards at voting locations on Saturday and distributed pamphlets with dead fetuses on them to suggest his rivals for the nomination backed abortion rights.

On Sunday the rookie candidate said in an email that he was “really busy” and did not have time to do an interview with the Star. But he‎ stressed

“the anti-abortion protesters were NOT affiliated with my campaign.”

The religious right helped propel Oosterhoff, briefly a junior staffer on Parliament Hill, to victory with 662 votes to 501 for Dykstra, 245 for businessman Mike Williscraft, and 235 for Niagara regional councillor Tony Quirk, who is also a PC Party vice-president.

In a statement, Brown, who was publicly neutral in the contest though he is close to Dykstra, welcomed the newest member of his team.

“I congratulate Sam Oosterhoff on being nominated by the Ontario PC members of Niagara West-Glanbrook as our new candidate for this byelection,” said the Tory leader.

“Life is harder under the Kathleen Wynne Liberals. This byelection the voters of Niagara West-Glanbrook have the opportunity to send the Liberal government a strong and clear message: Enough is enough,” he said.

Privately, senior Conservatives were devastated that Dykstra, who lost his seat as a Tory MP in neighbouring St. Catharines in last October’s federal election, failed to secure the nomination.

“This is the worst possible outcome for Patrick,” a senior PC official, speaking on background in order to discuss internal party workings, said Sunday.

“It’s the revenge of the so-cons,” fumed another high-ranking Tory.

Indeed, Oosterhoff’s decisive win comes weeks after Brown denounced social conservatives in the wake of the party’s bungling during PC MPP Raymond Cho’s victory in Scarborough-Rouge River last month.

Their Scarborough triumph was tainted after 13,000 letters — in English and Chinese and bearing Brown’s signature — were circulated promising to “scrap” the sex-education curriculum if he becomes premier in 2018.

Brown then reneged on that pledge, ‎alienating social conservatives who oppose the updated health lesson plan, and claimed he had nothing to do with the missive being distributed. He insists he supports the modernized sex-education curriculum and is pro-choice.

That despite the fact that his chief of staff, Nicolas Pappalardo, and Dykstra knew the letter was being printed after secret negotiations were held with social conservative activists.

Saturday’s setback comes as the Tories have the wind in their sails. They lead in the province-wide polls and have high hopes of winning the other Nov. 17 byelection in the Liberal stronghold of Ottawa-Vanier, where former Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin is their candidate.

If Oosterhoff wins, he will break the record held by MPP Reid Scott, who was 21 when he was elected for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the precursor to the New Democratic Party, in 1948 in the old Toronto riding of Beaches.

Scott, who died in March at 89, remained active in politics his entire life, also serving as an MP, a Toronto councillor, and, briefly, as acting mayor.

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Niagara West-Glanbrook, considered a safe Tory seat, was vacated after Hudak resigned to become CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association.

The New Democrats, meanwhile, on Sunday nominated retired police officer Mike Thomas t‎o be their candidate in Niagara West-Glanbrook.

Ottawa-Vanier — where Nathalie Des Rosiers, a dean of law at the University of Ottawa, is the Liberal candidate and retired civil servant Claude Bisson is the NDP flag-bearer — had been held by retired Grit attorney general Madeleine Meilleur.