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It was never a sure thing. The Tories came dangerously close to handing the party to a shallow, bombastic, self-centred TV performer of minor celebrity who saw the contest as a means of furthering his private brand at the expense of serious discourse. It’s more than a little worrying that, in the end, the Tories were saved not by the sudden realization that Kevin O’Leary was a boob, but by O’Leary’s withdrawal from the race. In the end, O’Leary couldn’t even be bothered to complete the farce he’d started. The Tories, and Canada, are better off for it, but it still defies good sense that he got as far as he did. No doubt the Liberals and New Democrats have their share of ill-informed members willing to take a flyer on whatever noisy hotdog wanders into town, but they’ve never turned one into a front-runner.

It’s also disquieting that, with the possible exception of Bernier, none of the contestants was able to cobble together a collection of proposals capable of seizing the attention of Canadians. Scheer, O’Toole, Lisa Raitt and Michael Chong are all seasoned, reasonable and capable politicians — with compelling personal stories — yet could probably march collectively down any main street in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal or Toronto without being recognized. They’re up against a prime minister who only has to go jogging to set tender hearts aflutter. We need some personality here, people.

Photo by Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press

The party has work to do to regain the trust needed to pose a serious threat to the Liberals in the next election. There is plenty to work with — just 18 months into its mandate, the government is running out of promises to break. Rona Ambrose’s strong performance as interim leader demonstrated the fissures in the Liberal front lines. Underperformance has become a characteristic of the Trudeau cabinet. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is the latest to join Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett and former foreign minister Stephane Dion as major disappointments. Scott Brison — tasked with bringing openness to Ottawa — instead resides within a party that has twice tried to force through stringent new restrictions on the rights of opposition MPs.

Whether Bernier is the politician to pull it off remains to be seen. Given the convoluted nature of the Tory balloting process, no one is entirely sure his victory is as certain as it seems. But the Tories appear to have bumbled their way to a reasonable enough choice. That’s more than 315 million Americans can say.

National Post