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Andrew Scheer presented the façade of party unity when he emerged from a marathon caucus meeting on Wednesday.

“The whole team knows that Conservatives only succeed when they work together and remain united,” he said.

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It’s true that the caucus was unified behind the idea that the party’s membership, not its elected members, should hold the leader to account. But that was where consensus ended.

The meeting didn’t last seven hours because MPs were lauding the leader and his team.

There are very real concerns among MPs from Ontario in particular, that the party will be reduced to a rump in Canada’s largest province, if major changes are not introduced by Scheer – or possibly his successor. The loss of Milton, a riding formerly held by Lisa Raitt, is seen as a harbinger by MPs with commuter belt constituencies who have seen their vote share dip in successive elections since 2011.