Todd Doherty has been constantly on the move, ever since he announced his plans in 2014 to succeed Dick Harris in Cariboo-Prince George.
He relentlessly travelled across the riding during the long and chippy nomination battle and he stayed on the road all through 2015, well before Stephen Harper called the election and the Liberals and the NDP named area candidates. Since winning the seat last year, Doherty has kept up the pace, even using his motorbike this summer to get him to various riding events.
It appears he brought that hustle to Ottawa, as well, with news Thursday that interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose had elevated him to be a full-fledged member of the shadow cabinet as the critic for fisheries, oceans and the Coast Guard.
This is a significant promotion for Doherty, who was chosen as deputy critic on two files - Asia-Pacific Gateway and indigenous affairs - last November. Doherty retains his Asia-Pacific Gateway portfolio, while indigenous and northern affairs falls to his southern colleague Cathy McLeod, the MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, with an assist from two Northern Alberta MPs, David Yurdiga (northern affairs) and Arnold Viersen (rural affairs).
At the very bottom of the shadow cabinet, other critic and deputy critic list lies Bob Zimmer, the second-term MP for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, who retains the single post he was given late last fall as deputy critic for families, children and social development. He seems increasingly out of step with most of the Conservative caucus (his stated preference for Donald Trump and AR-15 rifles might have something to do with that) while Doherty is getting more responsibility to hold Justin Trudeau's government accountable and prepare the party to defeat Trudeau in the next election.
Doherty's positive brand of kinder, gentler conservatism ties in nicely with the rebranding efforts Ambrose had made on the national level in Harper's wake.
Zimmer (and some of the candidates to succeed Harper) seem to want to turn back the clock to Harper, in both style and substance, while Ambrose, who can't run to lead the party while being interim leader, is the one dragging the party forward.
Fortunately, she's not alone. With loyal lieutenants like Doherty, she's eager to have Canadians forget about Harper (and her own strident declarations while serving in Harper's cabinet) in favour of a Conservative Party offering voters a positive vision for Canada, not fear and anger.
The challenge for Doherty is to make hay while the sun shines. Leadership candidates are not allowed to sit in the shadow cabinet, which has made room for a rookie MP like Doherty to step up and showcase his talent to his fellow caucus members, the party faithful, the press gallery and to his opposition colleagues. Doherty has until next May to demonstrate he deserves that seat at the big kids table.
To use a sports analogy, Doherty is the rookie player called up from the farm team due to injury among the regulars.
If he wants to stay in the major leagues, he has to deliver and that means making some of the veterans look bad.
On one hand, the more established Tory MPs would love to see Doherty hammer the Liberals and even take down the minister but they also don't want him to be too good for fear his status will eclipse their own.
This is the internal political game Doherty will increasingly find himself playing as he climbs the party ladder and runs into MPs whose ambition comes before party loyalty.
For the most part, Harris avoided that path and Zimmer seems to be heading the same direction.
For the MP who does not aspire to have the words honourable or right honourable in front of their name, sitting in the backbenches allows the opportunity to devote themselves to constituency work and pet causes.
Even if these efforts don't fall in line with official party policy, it doesn't matter, so long as no effort is made to draw attention to themselves or their work outside of the riding.
Doherty, meanwhile, is working his way up. That's good for both him and the riding but it comes with a cost.
At some point, he will have to pick sides in the leadership race and that choice, more so than his work ethic, will decide whether he's still in the shadow cabinet or in the backbenches with Zimmer this time next year.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
