Andrew Scheer is a relatable guy. It's his best feature. The new Conservative Leader is even more relatable than Justin Trudeau, who's so handsome and so buff that he could star in a Hugo Boss ad. Mr. Scheer, on the other hand, reminds you of the guy next door at the backyard barbeque. His suits look like they came from the two-for-one pants sale at Tip Top. They'd fit better if he could lose a few.

"The shirt is staying on all the time," Mr. Scheer told The Globe and Mail, which no doubt came as a relief to much of the country. When asked about the prospect of moving his large young family into Stornoway, he said, "I hope they have Scotchguard in the carpets."

Mr. Scheer and his wife, Jill, have so many kids that his Wikipedia entry can barely keep up. Mr. Trudeau had a lot of carefree bachelor days; Mr. Scheer got married and settled down when he was about 12. He has never been interested in anything but politics. He has no known vices. He is as cheery and reliable as they come.

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It's to the Conservative Party's eternal credit that they picked him. Not for them the temptations of soft authoritarian populism, nativist resentment or sticking it to the elites. Canada is practically the only Western democracy left without an ugly insurgent wing. That's why I am babblingly grateful to live here.

The Conservatives were smart to reject Kevin O'Leary, the celebrity carpetbagging phony, and the slick libertarian Maxime Bernier. Both are dividers, not uniters. They're too arrogant and cocky. They sure as hell are not relatable. After Stephen Harper, the party was desperate for someone they could warm to. Mr. Scheer fills the bill. Not only that, he feels like family.

Naturally, the Liberals are out to paint Mr. Scheer as a knuckle-dragging social conservative who wants to send gay people back into the wilderness. Niki Ashton, an NDP leadership contender, even compared him to Donald Trump. That's ridiculous. Mr. Scheer is an in-the-box conservative that no one who ever voted for Mr. Harper would find the least bit scary.

A lot of people in this country are happy to vote both Conservative and Liberal. That's why we've had two main parties alternating in power for so long. The policy differences between them are not so vast that people can't switch back and forth, and a lot of elections hinge on how fed up people are with the incumbents.

Mr. Trudeau is highly popular right now. But he's not invulnerable. And among his chief vulnerabilities is class. No one embodies the sensibilities of the progressive urban elites more than Justin does. He is determined to save the environment. He marches in the Pride Parade. He hobnobs with the Aga Khan (a celebrated do-gooding billionaire) and has a bromance with Emmanuel Macron, the current saviour of France. He has a gorgeous, New Age wife and a large Indigenous tattoo on his shoulder. (Oops. Is that okay any more?)

But Mr. Trudeau's message of inclusion and diversity implicitly excludes a lot of people. Think of practising Christians who send their kids to the Regina Christian School (as the Scheers do), or residents of small-town Ontario, or community-college dropouts, or people who object to being called Islamophobic when they criticize Islam or folks whose idea of sophistication is The Keg. The cultural and class divide between these Canadians and the people who run the Liberal Party is vast, and growing. It is a significant factor in the political upheaval in the United States, where the overt contempt of the ruling Democrats for the backward masses helped bring Donald Trump to power.

Are we there yet? Obviously not. But Canadians' general enthusiasm for progressive causes has perhaps been overstated. Almost everybody likes cabinet ministers in turbans. But not everybody thinks transgender pronouns are a pressing civil-rights issue. White Christian so-cons are not a potent force in our politics, but Mr. Scheer could find fertile ground in the exploding suburbs around Toronto and Vancouver. A lot of new Canadians from India, China, the Philippines and the Middle East have family values that are a lot closer to his than to the CBC's.

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This is not to say the Conservatives will be back in office any time soon. Parties are booted out, not booted in, and the Trudeau regime is still looking fresh. Mr. Trudeau has handled his most important assignment – Donald Trump – with great skill. For Mr. Scheer to have a chance in 2019, the Liberals will have to screw up badly. Chances are they won't.