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Canadians appear to regard the prospect of Andrew Scheer as prime minister with the same incredulity audiences at the premiere of Conan the Barbarian might have greeted the news they were watching the future governor of California.

Tracking polls suggest the Conservatives are trailing the Liberals by around 10 percentage points and the new leader has not had the customary bump in popularity he might have expected in his honeymoon period.

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There are already rumblings that the Tories may have made a massive miscalculation in choosing the bashful Scheer.

But some perspective is in order. The Conservative leader is up against a man who may be the most popular politician in the world.

Canada has just been voted the most positive influence in global affairs and much of the credit for that goes to Justin Trudeau, the ShamWow Guy of international relations.

Scheer can’t possibly compete with that level of political showmanship. All he can do is wait and hope that Canadians will eventually tire of the Liberals – something that, realistically, looks unlikely to happen before 2019.