A University of Windsor political science professor is chiming in on the Conservative Party of Canada's decision to oust leader Erin O'Toole.
Lydia Miljan says O'Toole was never able to gain momentum and likely didn't have the support of many of his colleagues as he only secured the leadership role by just over 50%.
About a third of party members signed a notice triggering a leadership review, and on Wednesday, 73 MPs voted to replace O'Toole while just 45 endorsed him.
Miljan says O'Toole never made any big splashes as the party's leader.
"When the election happened, he was improving his likability, people got to know him, but then he he faltered. He faltered on some key issues that really affected their ability to increase their vote share. He wasn't a spectacular disaster, he didn't lose seats, but he didn't pick any up either."
She says O'Toole's time as leader was very underwhelming.
"He kept on changing positions on the fly and going against what the party wanted. He made two promises. One, he was true blue conservative, and the other was that he was going to win Ontario. Neither of those came true. So the caucus certainly was within their rights to question his ability to move forward," Miljan said.
Miljan says O'Toole never put forth a strong message.
"You'd have to think about what he actually stood for. My point is that it wasn't clear and a lot of people are talking about the fact that he didn't have authenticity. You've got to be really clear that the party is with you and you've got to be consistent and he just wasn't consistent in his messaging."
The PCs have selected Manitoba MP Candice Bergen as the new interim party leader.
Bergen was deputy leader under O'Toole and served as opposition house leader from 2016 to 2020.
She'll hold the role until party membership chooses a new permanent leader.
This will be the third leadership race since former prime minister Stephen Harper stepped down after losing to the Liberals in the 2015.
- with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides