Conservatives divided on what to do about Erin O'Toole after election loss

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's failure to end Justin Trudeau's government is inspiring some frustrated partisans to call for his replacement.

O'Toole promised to make inroads in the Greater Toronto Area and fell well short of the mark; the party actually lost seats in this vote-rich region. O'Toole's attempt to shift the party closer to the political centre also alienated some more right-wing small-c conservative supporters — some of whom voted for the People's Party of Canada (PPC).

Still, other party members seem to be more inclined to forgive O'Toole at this early stage of the election post-mortem process. They say they fear that dumping one Conservative leader for another at this point would only undermine the party's chances of defeating Trudeau or his Liberal successor in an election that could come in just two years' time.

There are some silver linings in the Conservatives' election performance. The party picked up seats in Atlantic Canada, brought down three of Trudeau's cabinet ministers, improved on past gains in Quebec and closed the vote gap significantly in Ontario, despite a rising PPC competing with the party on its right flank.

Andrew Brander is a long-time party organizer who served as chief of staff to former deputy Conservative leader Lisa Raitt. He said dumping O'Toole after just one election loss would set "a pretty dangerous precedent."

"This would be the second leader we've gotten rid of who's won the popular vote and a third of the seats in Parliament. Do we really want to be the party that says, 'No, that's not good enough and if you don't win, you only get one shot?'" Brander told CBC News.

"Is that really the standard we want to set for ourselves going forward?"