The Conservative Party of Canada gathered for their National Policy Convention over the weekend but the majority of the talk was about someone who didn't attend.  

Last week, Maxime Bernier resigned from the party saying it was over policy differences.  In his resignation, Bernier said that under current leader Andrew Scheer, the Conservatives had "all but abandoned its core conservative principles." 

Last May, Bernier narrowly missed becoming Conservative leader after being defeated by Scheer by less than a percentage point.  Bernier had recently made comments about multiculturalism that upset a lot of people.  He also said when he resigned that he was planning on starting a new political party.  

Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards was at the convention in Halifax last weekend and says Bernier's leaving the party didn't come as a big surprise to a lot of people, but it had nothing to do with policy differences.

"It seems as though he was pretty unwilling to accept the results of the leadership race.  He didn't win and I think he had a tough time accepting that.  I think at the end of the day that's what it came down to is that this is someone's who is essentially a sore loser.  I think if it was about policy or beliefs, we just had our policy convention over the weekend.  That was a great opportunity for him, or anyone else, who has things they want to see changed in terms of the direction of our policy, you come here and you're prepared to make your case for why that should happen and argue for it and fight for what you believe in.  Obviously, he didn't choose to do that.  He chose to leave and that comes across to me as someone who just couldn't accept the fact that they lost the opportunity to be the leader."

There are mixed feelings among Conservatives on whether or not Bernier's quitting will cause a rift in the party or hurt them in the polls.  Richards hopes that's not true and doesn't think it will happen if the people he spoke to at the convention are any indication.

"I certainly hope not and I don't really believe it will.  I talked to a lot of people who were supporters of his during the leadership race and I find that a lot of them are more disappointed in him than even I might be.  They voted for him because they believed in the vision he was putting forward and wanted to see him remain in the party and push for those things and move forward with them and he didn't choose to do that.  I think there's a lot of disappointment in him for that reason."

Some political pundits questioned the way Andrew Scheer handled the whole Bernier affair as he caused the ire of many when he Tweeted that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's "extreme multiculturalism and cult of diversity will divide us into little tribes that have less and less in common,"  Richards believes that Scheer handled the situation the best way he could.

"I think Andrew did everything he could to make Maxime feel welcome in the party.  He tried to give him every opportunity to be a significant part of the party going forward and, in all honesty, I think that's the right way to handle it.  Coming out of a leadership race, I feel it's important to try to pull everyone in and work on the same team.  I feel that Andrew extended that opportunity to Maxime and Maxime chose not to take it so I think you have to point the blame for what happened squarely at Maxime."

Richards says there was a real sense of unity and common purpose among Conservatives at the convention.  "Andrew gave a great speech and there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm and support.  I think there's a real sense of a party with a common purpose, we're ready to move ahead, we know what we want to achieve and we're all going to work together on the same page to make that happen."

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