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Aug 12, 2020 3:34 PM -

Andrew Scheer likely marking last day in House of Commons as Opposition leader

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Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Today's sitting of Parliament is expected to be the last one that will see Andrew Scheer in the role of Conservative leader.

In addition to being an MP from Regina since 2004, he also served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015.

It was after the Tories lost government in 2015, and the subsequent resignation of then-leader Stephen Harper, that Scheer decided to go for the leadership job.

He won in 2017, eking out a very narrow victory over fellow MP Maxime Bernier.

He spent the next two years trying to gain recognition across the country, while shoring up the party's war chest and policy playbook in order to defeat the Liberal government in the Oct. 2019 election.

But despite the Liberals struggling with several scandals that reduced them to a minority, he failed to outright bring them down.

But the knives came out for Scheer almost immediately after election day.

Among the jabs: party insiders leaked an internal argument over Scheer using party funds to pay for his kids' private religious schooling, a fact unknown to many of the party's executives.

The vote for the Conservative leader is taking place by mail, and all ballots must be back by Aug. 21.

A winner is expected to be announced within days, and very likely before the next sitting of the Commons on Aug. 26.

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