Andrew Scheer has been leading the Conservatives in the House of Commons and across the country for over six months now. He won the contest over contenders from inside the Conservative caucus and a few running as outsiders (who used to be insiders).

The Conservative ‘base’ is called that because social conservatives really don’t have any alternative party to vote for. They are a key party constituency because they show up consistently at election time, they volunteer, and they are motivated to donate to leaders who share their values — even if they don’t always publicly champion them.

When the final vote came down in the Conservative leadership race, the more overt social conservative candidates — like MP Kellie Leitch and MP Brad Trost — had been eliminated. Their supporters turned to Scheer to combat the Libertarian movement led by Maxime Bernier. Scheer has not had to answer since for his status as a social conservative.

Fast forward six months and Trost and Leitch have been consigned to the Conservative backbenches. They have been given no roles in Scheer’s ‘shadow cabinet’ — a tent so big it even includes deputy shadow cabinet ministers.

Meanwhile, outside of the Ottawa bubble, Scheer’s momentum has stalled. Conservatives are trailing in the polls. They lost two incumbent MPs in recent by-elections to the Liberals. Conventional wisdom says by-elections are stacked against the governing party. So what’s going on?

The CBC recently reported that Leitch and Trost are facing contested nominations to run again for their seats. Challengers are seeking to be the Conservative voice in their ridings.

Is it an accident that these people decided to contest nominations in ridings represented by two so-con former rivals for the party leadership? Or were they nudged by top party brass to put in their paperwork?

Either way, Scheer should not be losing sleep over the prospect of a shakeup in his caucus.

This is precisely what happened after Justin Trudeau won the Liberal leadership. The promise of ‘open nominations’ — without the leader stepping in to name a parachute candidate — was enticing to those who felt that they had no shot before.

Trudeau would not have some of his key team members right now without vigorous, hard-fought nomination battles among multiple candidates, ramping up enthusiasm among local party supporters.

Scheer may want to look to Patrick Brown’s example if he wants to rid himself of a few of the relics in his midst. Scheer may want to look to Patrick Brown’s example if he wants to rid himself of a few of the relics in his midst.

It also encouraged a few long-time political veterans who had been tightly gripping the reins of their local associations to let go and make way for new blood.

Supposed shoo-ins like Yolande James, Marisa Sterling and Rana Sarkar lost because other candidates were able to organize better, getting more of their supporters out to vote on the day. That, in large part, is how elections are won.

Many of Trudeau’s MPs in strategic ridings launched their political careers through the same open, hotly-contested process.

As everyone knows by now, Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown is going through his own nomination troubles. But notwithstanding all the bad press about how shamelessly he has been interfering with nominations, he may come out of the process with a stronger party — and an important lesson for his former caucus colleague, Andrew Scheer.

If Brown can eliminate the party’s baggage and put together a team that he trusts to deliver, he can shake off grim memories of recent Progressive Conservative losses. His party has committed to investments in mental health and child care, to improve accountability and to cut taxes and hydro rates.

In other words, it’s a platform that’s not far removed from what Premier Kathleen Wynne was planning. It’s a platform for a new PC party, a centrist one that shuns the Ford Nation connections of the recent past and looks to make common cause with the sort of voters who used to support Bill Davis. As long as the team selling the plan at the doors does not slip up — or remind people of Hudak, Tory, Eves, Harris, Ford or Harper — a centre-leaning PC party stands to do very well.

Brown, like Scheer, is a social conservative — it’s on the record. So far, he hasn’t had to wear it. And notwithstanding the efforts of the Working Ontario Women coalition, Brown is being given the benefit of the doubt.

When Trudeau went into the task of building the team, he was able to rebrand the Liberal party itself as something fresh, progressive and politically competitive.

Brown has yet to achieve that, but he’s on his way. Scheer may want to look to his example if he wants to rid himself of a few of the relics in his midst.

Scheer has found an approach to his role as Opposition leader that he believes is both tough and fair, and contrasts his leadership style to that of the prime minister. He has to be given credit for attempting to rebrand the Conservatives as the party that cares about vulnerable people, and to rebrand Trudeau’s policies as ones that actually hurt the vulnerable. (I don’t buy it, personally, but he had to try something new.)

Perhaps a nomination strategy that drops the Trosts and Leitchs can help him burnish that image — and steal some of Trudeau’s centrist vote share in 2019.

Shane Mackenzie is an associate consultant with Ensight. He has worked for Liberal members of Parliament and as a social media coordinator for the Liberal Party of Canada, has spent time as a federal public servant and has campaigned at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.