The voters have spoken and John Tory has listened.
That's what the Progressive Conservative leader told reporters Wednesday after meeting with his caucus for the first time since losing the Oct. 10 provincial bid for premier.
Publicly backing away from his former position to publicly fund all faith-based schools, Tory said at the news conference he will respect the message voters sent out to him.
"The people rendered their verdict quite definitely and I respect their verdict," he said. "That's the way the issue is going to go."
When pressed on whether he would stay on as leader, Tory said his caucus gave him enormous support, but that he still has to speak with the party executive and candidates before making the decision. He is expected to meet with them in the next week.
"I received a huge amount of encouragement from the caucus and I'm very happy about that," he said. "There are other very important people in the party that I said I'd talk to and I intend to do so."
"I got a lot of valuable advice this morning which I take to heart," he continued. "I was delighted to receive honest feedback."
During his election campaign, Tory was criticized for not backing down on his education policy sooner insisting it was a matter of fairness. Finally, with a little more than a week to go until the election, Tory said he'd put the matter to a free vote.
Many said his insistence on the issue is what led the party to failure.
Tory not only lost in his bid for premier, but he failed to win the Don Valley West riding he was running in. Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne emerged the victor there.
Veterans and newcomers alike welcomed the decision to abandon support for funding of religious schools.
"It's dead,'' said rookie member Randy Hillier. "The PC caucus is solid Tory blue.''
Conservative MPP John O'Toole told the Canadian Press before the caucus meeting he wanted to see if Tory was prepared to say he made a mistake.
"He's got to get in touch. It's about the people. It's not about our own personal views all the time," he said.
Possible leadership contender Tim Hudak said whether or not Tory stays or goes, the party needs to ask itself some tough questions about where they went wrong.
"I believe fundamentally when we put policies out there that are fundamentally different than the Liberals and stand behind them boldly, we're rewarded by voters,'' Hudak said. "In this campaign, our results were far different than what we expected at the beginning.''
Veteran Bob Runciman, who was appointed interim party leader in the legislature as long as Tory remains without a seat, said Tory has taken responsibility for the campaign and the caucus is ready to move on.
"There was unanimity in the room with respect to him staying on,'' Runciman said. "Everyone there supported him and would like to see him stay on. We feel he's the guy to lead us into the next election.''
With files from The Canadian Press
