Yess PP lost the run for PM and humiliatingly lost his riding, but overall the party grew in influence and in number of seats tremendously under his leadership.
I agree the Conservatives have grown in influence but I don't believe it was because of Poilievre. It doesn't matter who leads the conservative party, the Canadian pendulum was due to swing back to the Cons, he dropped the ball hard, and probably still would have won if it wasn't for Trump slapping Canada in the face and waking a bunch of us up. Any influence gained was because it was "their turn", not Poilievre's leadership.
The question is, did the Conservatives come close to winning because of Poilievre, or did they lose a sure thing because of him? Based on what things looked like 6 months ago, I'd say the latter.
This went full circle very efficiently. Well done.