the conservative party of canada has this stubborn ignorance of history that insists it cannot do well in quebec due to the reality that it tends to elect leaders from outside quebec, rather than because it's policies are not appealing to quebecers. this has something to do with brian mulroney, who in fact just happened to be in the right place at the right time. i mean, quebec just picked the younger trudeau over the irish-quebecer mulroney-clone, muclair.

worse, it insists that it's policies are appealing to quebecers, and quebecers just won't vote for people from outside quebec. quebecers don't react well to that kind of dismissive attitude, or the kind of pandering that the party clearly wants to promote.

the reality is that it is not likely that the conservatives will do well in quebec any time soon for the reason that quebecers lean well to the left of the conservative party. there is no answer for them, besides repeating mulroney's march to the centre - which will lead to a revolt in the grassroots.

maxime bernier is not a progressive conservative. so, i do not think that maxime bernier poses justin trudeau much of a threat.

the winning strategy for the conservative party requires winning large amounts of seats in ontario, and particularly around toronto. they will need to win back moderate suburbanites in the 905. bernier will not be able to do that, either - because he's quite clearly not very bright. to ontarians, bernier is the same dumb conservative that the ontario pcs have been running for years: he looks good in a suit, but doesn't have a thought in his head.

the only candidate that poses a serious threat is lisa raitt.