With a secure Liberal minority heading back to the House of Commons the political future of Tory leader Andrew Scheer is up in the air.

The Conservatives gained 26 seats and won the popular vote, but fell far short of forming government.

Pollster Tim Powers says Scheer’s electoral performance could be spun either way, but he thinks the Conservative leader will hear the knives sharpening within his party before long.

He says Scheer may try to argue, as Harper did before him, that he was able to take on a political powerhouse like Trudeau and bring him down to a minority.

However others might say that following a series of scandals this was a severely weakened Justin Trudeau and Scheer should have been able to beat him.