By Andrew Thomson | UPDATED March 15, 2021 1:24pmET
On election night the Conservative caucus grew from 95 to 121 MPs, with gains in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick.
With 34.4% of the popular vote, more Canadians opted for Andrew Scheer and his candidates than any other party.
And though Justin Trudeau remained in power – no majority government in Ottawa has been ousted after one election since 1935 – the Liberals were reduced to a minority of seats.
But Conservative support dropped in the riding-rich Greater Toronto Area, and more widely across Ontario and Quebec, as hoped-for gains in central Canada failed to materialize.
The City of Toronto and its suburbs stayed with Justin Trudeau and Liberals also maintained their seats in Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Hamilton, and the Niagara region.
Ontario support fell 2% from 2015 to 2019 (35.1 to 33.2). Quebec support fell 4% (16.7 to 12.8).
Here's how the Conservative change in support looked across Canada:
Scheer said he planned to remain Conservative leader. Yet just seven weeks later, facing a mandatory review at the next party convention, Andrew Scheer was standing in the House of Commons to announce his planned departure.
"This was not a decision I came to lightly," Scheer said in the House of Commons after delivering the news to caucus. "It was one I came to after many long, hard conversations with friends and family over the past two months since the election campaign.
"It has been an incredible challenge for our family to keep up with the pace that is required to lead a caucus and a party into a general election, and my wife Jill has been absolutely heroic. However, in order to chart the course ahead, this party and this movement need someone who can give 100% to the effort. After some conversations with my kids and loved ones, I felt it was time to put my family first."
Although Scheer cited family concerns, reports also connected his decision to a revelation that Conservative party funds were being used to pay for his children's private schooling.
That led now-former Conservative executive director Dustin Van Vugt to say:
As is the normal practice for political parties, the Party offered to reimburse some of the costs associated with being a national leader and re-locating the family to Ottawa.
Shortly after Mr. Scheer was elected leader, we had a meeting where I made a standard offer to cover costs associated with moving his family from Regina to Ottawa.
This includes a differential in schooling costs between Regina and Ottawa. All proper procedures were followed and signed off on by the appropriate people.
