Andrew Scheer is not a man who wears emotion easily or obviously in public.
When he speaks, even when the topic isn’t his personal beliefs on social issues or the viability of his leadership—queries that would make anyone react defensively—Scheer often seems guarded and intensely interior. For all his be-dimpled affability, there is often the sense of a house with its curtains drawn about the man.
So when the Leader of the Official Opposition rose in the House of Commons on Dec. 12, looking bereft and obviously weepy, it stopped the clock.
Minutes before, Scheer’s caucus had learned the news he was about to convey, and they offered an extended ovation as he rose on a point of privilege and then struggled to get his face and voice in order.
When he first stepped into the House in 2004 as an MP, he began, he’d been 25 years old, not long out of university, newly married with his first child on the way. Some people might insist he still had maturing to do, but in many ways, he’d grown up in that green chamber, even as he became father to five children in life outside it, he said.
Then Scheer announced “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make.” He was resigning as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and asking the national council to start planning the race for his successor immediately.
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See Also:
(1) Conservatives postpone policy convention to focus on organizing leadership race
(3) Scheer can only blame himself, say critics
(4) The Rebel to Rabble Review: More Scheer resignation fallout
