The Lougheed example is kind of funny since he was relegated to the backbench federally so he left for provincial politics where he joined a party with zero seats that eventually defeated the SoCred dynasty by finding a broader vote base towards the centre.
So even when Lougheed came along, he didn't get traction in the federal party, and didn't join the mainstream party provincially. But as much as Conservatives love to blame the left for why they can't pick a leader, anybody coming in wanting to take a more mainstream position on the centre-right will suffer the same fate as all the other progressive voices in the party do when they go up against the CPC base.
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