A $12 website and volunteer videos: How some Scheer supporters are fighting back

Andrew Scheer's supporters have launched what they are calling a grassroots campaign to fight back against "elite Toronto consultants."

Stand With Scheeris a website and Twitter accountlaunched this past weekend, callingon Conservatives to express their support for the federalleaderin the run-up to a leadership review that will take place at the party's April convention.

"While they're spending tens of thousands of dollars from Bay Street to try to generate a leadership contest so they can have business for their firms, we're in Ottawa with grassroots support, holding the Liberals to account and supporting our leader, who was elected to do the same," said Michael Barrett, an Ontario MP backing the effort.

The primary target of Barrett's ire appearsto be Conservative Victory,a website and non-profitlaunched by some prominent Conservatives. They includeKory Teneycke,anex-aide of Stephen Harper, one of the forces behind Maxime Bernier'sunsuccessful bid to lead the Conservative Party, andacampaign manager for Ontario Premier Doug Ford,and Jeff Ballingall, the man behind Ontario Proud and Canada Proud, whichsought to defeat Justin Trudeau.

Conservative Victory is callingon Scheer to step aside and run in a "competitive race" for the party leadership.A second unrelatedcampaign, called Scheer Must Go,has also been trying to foment frustration with the leader.

In the wake of the October election that saw the Liberals secure a second mandate,Scheer has seen calls for his resignation from some Quebec Conservatives. And two party insiders, including one who worked on Scheer's recentelection campaign, have publicly criticized the Conservative leaderfor his "visible discomfort" with social issues, like same-sex marriage.

On the other end of the spectrum, some prominent social Conservatives told the Globe andMail that Scheer failed to defend their beliefs during the last election.

'Not an organized effort'

The Stand with Scheercampaign was launched as a way to combat some of those criticisms, andincludes several testimonials focused on Scheer's ability to unite the party.

It's not clear precisely who is behind the campaign. Barrett says it's driven by "some MPs and grassroots members," who he contrasts against the individuals pushing for Scheer's resignation.

"Right now, our platform is a $12 website, andvolunteer-driven videos that we're putting out, and tweets, and taking the opportunity to speak with members of our media," said Barrett.

The effort was launched this past weekend;so far, the response has been somewhat muted, with tweets receiving only a handful of responses.

Barrett bristled at the idea that theproject could be viewed as a barometer of Scheer's support.

"It's not an organized effort, it's not a poll of caucus members for or against.It's just a response to stories that have been put out," he said.

Barrett said he believes the campaign will help balance out the public conversation about Scheer's leadership.

"You take a look at some of the news aggregator sites and it's 10 stories about the same two people talking about the same thing," he said."Here'sa story about someone else who is saying the opposite."

'Spurious and insulting'

Teneycke told CBC News he rejects Barrett's claims, particularly the idea that only a few people in Toronto oppose Scheer.

"I've talked to a lot of people. I've had trouble finding anyone who thinks Andrew can win the next election or supports his leadership," he said.

Teneycke, who runs the lobbying firm Rubicon, said this effort wasn't about making money for his company. Political campaigns tend to be a loss leader in his industry, he said,callingthe suggestion of a profit motive "spurious and insulting."

Teneycke also declined to say how much money Conservative Victoryis receiving from donors to fuelanti-Scheer efforts.

"We're under no obligation to disclose anything related to that. To disclose it would likely see people who are facing contributions to us face retribution," he said.