Andrew Scheer becomes Canada’s Conservative leader

Toronto, May 28 (IANS) Andrew Scheer, former Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, has been elected the new leader of the federal Conservative Party of the country at the party conclave at the Toronto Congress Centre.

Scheer, 38, on Saturday promised to unite the party by bringing together the social and fiscal wings to take on the Liberals in the 2019 elections, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We all know what it looks like when Conservatives are divided. We will not let that happen again," Scheer told the media.

He edged out former Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, who was considered a strong frontrunner throughout the year-long race, by less than one percentage point.

The new Conservative leader will take the party into the next electoral battle against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals in 2019.

The Conservatives held power for almost a decade under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper until the Liberals won in the 2015 general elections.

Scheer was a member of Parliament who served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015. At 32, he was the youngest to serve in this capacity in the Canadian parliamentary history.

On September 28, 2016, Scheer announced his bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

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