A new poll suggests the federal Conservatives are back within striking range of the Liberals, with the support of 31 per cent of respondents, just three percentage points behind the governing party.
Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says its the second consecutive month his polling firm has seen small gains for the Tories, bringing them back to the level of support they enjoyed before last fall's federal election.
However, questions about Erin O'Toole's fate as Conservative leader still remain as some in the party, including some of his own M-Ps, wonder if he can lead the Tories to victory in the next race.
The Conservatives are holding a caucus retreat this week during which they'll be presented with the findings from a review into the party's failure to defeat the Liberals, who emerged from the Sept. 20 vote with a second consecutive minority government.
Only 16 per cent of respondents to the Leger poll say they believe O'Toole would make the best prime minister, compared to 19 per cent who chose the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and 25 per cent who chose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The online survey of 1,525 adult Canadians was conducted Jan. 21-13; it cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.