OTTAWA -- Maxime Bernier nearly jumped off the couch in his Parliament Hill office when I asked him if he could lead the federal Conservatives to victory in 2019 against Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.

"Oh, for sure!" he said in an exclusive Sun Media interview last week. "We will have a big window of opportunity. We can increase our seats all across the country."

For Bernier, the Conservative Party is not a re-building project. It needs a new leader, of course, and some new policy ideas but with plenty of time until the next general election, Bernier believes Conservatives should have every reason to expect to be able to make Trudeau a one-term prime minister.

But, of course, before Bernier gets his crack at Trudeau, he must win his party's leadership. He begins that task in earnest Sunday in his riding south of Quebec City with an official campaign launch.

Bernier is hugely popular in his riding of Beauce and 1,000 or more are expected to attend his launch.

The 53-year-old MP, first elected in 2006, is eager to build just as strong a base elsewhere in the country. In the week ahead, for example, he'll be in Calgary and Edmonton talking to party members, to small business owners, and to college and university students.

"I want a freer and more prosperous country," Bernier said. "And the way to do that is to have a limited government. I'm a real Conservative. I believe in freedom, responsibility, fairness and respect. That's the four themes of my campaign. Every public policy will be based on these four themes."

He is convinced that a campaign of ideas will win both his party's leadership and the prime minister's office.

But some of those ideas may be a tough sell in some regions.

No more corporate handouts for the likes of Bombardier or General Motors, for example.

And even though his riding has a huge number of dairy, egg and poultry farmers, he vows to end the high tariffs that protect them from foreign competition and force consumers to pay higher food costs.

He will offer to caucus colleagues and to the party's grassroots a more inclusive style of leadership than Stephen Harper's.

Riding associations should be free to pick their own candidates, Bernier said, without interference from the leader. And if MPs want to debate issues or introduce legislation that is at odds with the leader, Bernier would be OK with that.

Bernier, like Harper, has no intention, for example, of going anywhere near abortion but if any of the 10 Conservative MPs at the annual anti-abortion rally last week wanted to introduce a private members' bill on the subject, they would be free to do so and his caucus would be allowed a free vote.

Bernier would personally focus on smaller government.

"Be a strong government, but in your own jurisdiction. When you have a smaller government, you have more freedom; when you have more more freedom, you have more prosperity," said Bernier.

"I believe in free markets and I think we must speak about what we believe to Canadians with passion and with conviction."

The Max Factor

BORN: Saint-Georges, Que., Jan. 18, 1963 (aged 53)

MARITAL STATUS: Divorced, two kids.

BEFORE POLITICS: Lawyer, who became vice-president of Standard Life of Canada, worked at the National Bank of Canada, and was also a vice-president at the libertarian think-tank The Montreal Economic Institute.

DAD: Gilles Bernier, Progressive Conservative MP for the Beauce from 1984 to 1997 known as "King of the Beauce"

EDUCATION: Bachelor of commerce from Universite du Quebec a Montreal, law degree from the University of Ottawa

POLITICAL RESUME

- Elected MP for Beauce, QC on Jan 23, 2006

- In four general elections in Beauce, biggest win 67% in 2006, lowest 51% in 2011.

- Named industry minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's first cabinet in 2006

- Became foreign affairs minister in 2007

- Resigned from foreign affairs in 2008 after revelation he left top-secret documents at the home of his girlfriend at the time, Julie Couillard

- Chair of House of Commons National Defence Committee 2009-2011

- Brought back into Harper's cabinet after 2011 election as minister of state for small business and tourism

THE POLLS

ACROSS CANADA -- Only self-identified Conservative supporters

Rona Ambrose - 26%

Kevin O'Leary - 20%

Peter McKay - 16%

Tony Clement - 7%

Maxime Bernier - 6%

Jason Kenney - 6%

QUEBEC ONLY - Only self-identified Conservative supporters

Rona Ambrose - 26%

Kevin O'Leary - 18%

Peter McKay - 16%

Maxime Bernier - 14%

* Most recent Mainstreet Research poll on the Conservative leadership race