Poilievre is making calls to shore up support as Conservatives take stock of election results

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been on the phone with caucus members and party supporters in the hours since the election, trying to shore up his position after he delivered uneven results, Conservative sources told CBC News.

Poilievre, who has made it clear he intends to stay on as leader, is trying to chart a path forward now that he finds himself outside the House of Commons for the first time in more than 20 years after losing his own Ottawa-area seat, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about internal party discussions.

MPs could try to oust Poilievre, like they did with his predecessor, Erin O'Toole, through provisions of the Reform Act that empower parliamentarians to hold a leadership review. The party's caucus would have to first vote to adopt the act's leadership review powers and then collect enough signatures to prompt that process.

But at this early juncture, there is not a strong desire to replace Poilievre, caucus sources said.

One caucus source, who worked closely with Poilievre in the last Parliament, told CBC News the leader isn't facing any sort of well-organized internal opposition — at least not yet.

Another caucus source said there is some grumbling and disappointment that Poilievre blew what looked like a huge lead earlier this year — and then let 12 Conservative incumbents lose re-election in Monday's vote — but conceded there's no serious movement afoot to get rid of him.

A different caucus source said Poilievre is on "very solid ground" after making what this person called "major gains in both seat count and vote share" with important additions in the Greater Toronto Area in particular.

But there are some tensions in the Canadian Conservative family.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, a Progressive Conservative, said Wednesday he doesn't have any sort of relationship with Poilievre and acknowledged there was a dispute between the two leaders' camps during the last provincial election.

Houston said the federal Conservatives will need to do some "soul-searching" after the party came up short yet again against the Liberals. The party lost two MPs in the province.

Progressive Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also had a fractious relationship with his federal counterpart. Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, who tore into Ford in a CBC News interview on election night, posted an anti-Ford meme on social media Wednesday suggesting the premier is a Liberal.

Speaking to reporters, Ford said Poilievre and his team never supported the Ontario PCs in the recent provincial election. Ford's party won a massive majority government while voters went in a different direction federally, the premier said.

"The people spoke, and they spoke loud and clear on the provincial election and loud and clear on the federal election. That's democracy. That's who they want," Ford said.

But, for the federal Conservatives, there is considerable "leadership fatigue" among some members given there have already been four leaders in the last 10 years. A race to replace Poilievre would consume valuable time and resources.