The Conservative Party was taken off-guard by an announcement from their leader Thursday morning.

In an address to caucus, Andrew Scheer announced that he would be stepping down from his leadership role in order to make more time for his wife and children.

“Being able to put 100 percent effort into the job of being Prime Minister was something he would not be able to commit to while doing justice to his family,” offers Provencher MP Ted Falk.

While caucus did have plans to review Scheer’s leadership at a convention in April, Falk says for him to resign at this time was entirely unexpected.

“This is very big news for the Conservative Party,” he stresses, “and it does come as a surprise.”

Falk expects this information will begin influencing caucus' discussions immediately. “I’m sure, starting this afternoon, we’ll start hearing all kinds of names being brought forward," he comments.

 At this point, Falk is uncertain when the party will nominate Scheer's replacement. Until that happens, Scheer will continue serving the party as an interim leader.

Falk has been a devout supporter of Scheer since he took the reigns in 2017 and says that will not change. “I continue to give Andrew Scheer my full support and I wish him all the best in the role he sees himself in going forward.”

In the end, Falk says Scheer brought value and direction to the party that he laments letting go of.

“Andrew has served our country very well, he has served our caucus very well, and he has served our party very well. Under Andrew's leadership, we saw tremendous gains. We had 91 seats in parliament before the election and we have 121 seats now. We had almost 1 million more votes than the Liberal Party did when you tabulate the votes across Canada. Andrew has helped move our party forward and we will miss his leadership.”