Perhaps a clever move by non-Conservatives--unless their financial support for the Conservative Party counts for more than their votes against Leitch.

As for the Conservative Party establishment, Leitch probably hopes to do to them what Trump did to the US Republican establishment: reach over their heads to tap into a mood of resentment and unease among conservative supporters, throw the party establishment into disarray, build grassroots financial support and make her issues the only issues anyone is talking about.

It's a clever strategy. Although her proposals are perverse and degraded on their faces (like Trump's), the strategy could work if she guessed correctly that white, mostly conservative Christian Canadians are also looking for a leader to channel their fears and resentments.

In this light, Leitch's calculus seems to be that, to really harness the right-wing vote, Stephen Harper didn't go far enough towards the alt-right view, rather than that he went too far.