What a difference one election makes.

When Justin Trudeau was in office, he stepped in every cow flap in the field. Pierre Poilievre overestimated his cunning and instead of creating a narrative of how he would run the nation, his focus was on an easy target. Trudeau was pushed out, and Mark Carney sashayed in without bothering with minor details such as having no political experience.

And Poilievre could not adjust his message or read the room. He was sucker punched, and never recovered.

There is a difference between failure and feedback. Instead of taking the shifts as feedback, they turned into failure.

And then he did no better than being the official opposition. A larger number of disappointed MPs to contend with because they thought they were finally going to be the ruling government.

So then came the floor-crossers and the discontent. This was an obvious blowback to losing an easy election. A thirty point lead for months evaporated, and the rank and file, who thought they hitched their ride on a sure thing, were humiliated, and they were going to aim their embarrassment to the easiest target, Poilievre.

Poilievre couldn’t win his own seat and had to run again. He failed to see the various plots to undermine him, and that was the problem. He didn’t come out swinging. He retreated as more internal blows hit him repeatedly.

His time is essentially done. He doesn’t have the party behind him. The Conservatives have to reinvent themselves once again.

They do have cards to play, but the last leader who could think ahead was Stephen Harper. He was shrewd enough to pull off the impossible. If the Tories have another silver fox, they have yet to show themselves.

But right now, the Tories don’t have a leader and their leader doesn’t have a party.