So why? To back up my point that she is way mo' better than the dreck running for leader of the CPC.

Diefenbaker was a great Prime Minister, lawyer politician, civil libertarian and international leader and racked up the largest Parliamentary victory in Canadian history.  He is recognized as one of the pre-eminent House of Commons debaters of all time.  

Harper managed the Canadian economy adroitlyduring the worldwide recession and better than his peers in other G-7 countries.  Under Harper the Canadian middle class became number 1 in the world as the massive 2104 joint New York Times/LIS study found.

Now the tax and spend Liberals are running wild,  I would take Harper any day over Trudeau.

Harper could not get rid of the right wingnuts given that the party is open to a range of opinions.  And unlike the Liberals the Conservatives do not dictate constituency level nominations  All he could do was marginalize them and keep them from the levers of power.