One of the big interesting political dynamics in Canada in the 90s was the shadow rivalry between the various wings of the Reform Party of Canada.
You had the democratic populist wing led by party leader Preston Manning, who were interested in reforming Canada's political system with things like recall and referendum expansion, populist changes to compensation for public salaried workers and officials, and a general decentralization of confederation. This was a relatively non-ideological wing, and had a large number of former NDP and Liberal Western Canadians supporting it.
On the other hand, there was the social traditionalist wing of the party, exemplified by people like MPs Darrel Stinson and Myron Thompson, who wanted to challenge cultural issues and often were quite controversial about it, and certainly disliked by the media and political elites at the time for their often reactionary viewpoints.
And finally, you had the more Blue Tory fiscal conservatives, exemplified by MP Stephen Harper, who was Reform's policy director and chief national unity critic. This wing was committed to conservative economic ideology and was considered more moderate on cultural questions. It enjoyed more cordial relations with the media and Tory Party (what was left of it, at least) and was establishing links with Mike Harris's Ontario PC Party.
The things that tied them all together was western alienation, a desire for a tougher line on crime and more support for victims rights, and an opposition to the incessant focus on Quebec.
What happened in OTL was that the democratic populists and social traditionalists became more prevalent as time went on and Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin largely listened to the suggestions of Reform's fiscal conservatives on tackling the deficit, meaning that their concerns became less prescient. This marginalized that wing of the party, and Reform became dominated more by non-economic issues, eventually leading to a leadership review in 1996 when Manning passed with flying colors, but Harper did not wholeheartedly endorse his leadership and shortly after, took a break from politics to head up a conservative nonprofit advocacy group.
How could this have changed, with Harper leading a coup to overthrow Manning as party leader? What would have been the politic implications? A merger with the PC Party? A better performance for Reform in Ontario in '97 and '00? Yet another right wing vote split?