Pierre Poilievre has a message for Canadians: Don’t worry! I’m not going anywhere! I’ll be right here when you decide you want me again. And if you don’t think you need me, I’ll be right here anyway, whether you like it or not!
Didn’t we just tell the guy for the second time in a year to get lost?
Here’s the federal Opposition leader in the House of Commons on Tuesday as his Conservative Party was coming to terms with its really lousy performance in those three by-elections on Monday, all of which were won by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals. “Canadians might be discouraged right now because of the current political situation, but let us say this, Canadians should not give up.”
You’ve gotta admit, though, Canadians, collectively speaking, don’t seem all that discouraged at the moment – at least with the makeup of Parliament. Notwithstanding the mess being made of the world economy by Mr. Poilievre’s larger-than-life political ally south of the Medicine Line, a lot of Canadians – and not just in the three ridings that were in play Monday – seem pretty satisfied with the direction our country’s party politics are heading.
That is to say, far away from Mr. Poilievre’s Conservatives and away from the hapless federal New Democrats as well, into the arms of Canada’s natural governing party, the L-shaped Liberals, who have made another sharp turn in the year since Mr. Carney led them into a federal election and emerged with a minority government.
It’s not a minority now, is it? That’s thanks not just to Monday’s by-elections, but the fact that the easy-to-dislike Conservative leader seems to be shedding MPs like ducks shed water.
On its face, Mr. Poilievre’s pledge Tuesday that he’ll be stickin’ around to help us as soon as we come to our senses sounds kind of creepy, as if he’s driving around the house in his pickup truck. Do we have to get a restraining order to make the guy leave us alone?
In fairness, though, it did look as if he was a shoo-in to be prime minister for almost two years, and two of the three ridings in question were in downtown Toronto and the other one in Quebec, so I suppose he can be forgiven for not quite being able to believe he blew a 27-point lead in 2025. Still, you’d think he would have remembered that he lost his own Ontario riding and just to stay in the game had to make one of his MPs let him have a do-over by-election in a part of Alberta so Conservative it’s voted that way since the late Jurassic era.
That may have looked like a good plan at the end of April 2025, but now it’s starting to just look pathetic.
By way of explanation, Mr. Poilievre went on: “I will continue to lead that fight in this House, across this country, and in the next election.” He may be deluded, but at least that’s less creepy than having the guy stalking an entire country.
It’s even a good thing, I guess, if you’re one of Mr. Carney’s Liberal MPs, or a Conservative who’s had enough of Mr. Poilievre’s bullying leadership style to be feeling a little Grit-curious every time Andy Scheer comes stomping down the hall past the office.
It’s certainly not as bad as the bitter little screed Mr. Poilievre published on social media the night after the by-elections. “The Carney Liberals did not win a majority government through a general election or today’s by-elections,” he whinged. “Instead, it was won through backroom deals with politicians who betrayed the people who voted for them.”
But as Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean observed on her Women of ABPoli Substack Tuesday, “If Conservative voters were feeling betrayed by the floor crossings, they didn’t show up to say so at the ballot boxes. If anything, the drop in support for the Conservatives, combined with the increased support for the Liberals, suggest that fewer Conservatives are unhappy with the Liberal Prime Minister or the way things have been going than Mr. Poilievre.”
Yesterday, indeed, it sounded as if the possibility of more floor crossing – of which there are yet another eight or so to come, according to some Ottawa rumours – was what was preying on the minds of Mr. Poilievre’s inner circle.
“Our caucus is united behind Pierre Poilievre,” said Mr. Sheer, the Conservative House leader, The Canadian Press reported.
“Caucus is united, and united behind a leader that has a vision,” agreed deputy leader, Melissa Lantsman.
“This is a long game that we’re playing, we’re prepared to do that work, but I absolutely stand behind Pierre Poilievre as our leader,” said Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton.
Methinks these MPs doth protest too much!
Yeah, Canada has a Liberal majority now and it’s going to stay that way at least until 2029, notwithstanding Preston Manning’s prayerful plea yesterday for a return to minority government thanks to “an unholy alliance of socialist leftovers and Liberal turncoats” and maybe even Conservative government thanks to “a temporary resuscitation of the NDP.”
In case you missed it, the NDP have been pretty well hammered, and few Liberals are likely in a mood to go renegade, especially if that meant joining Mr. Poilievre’s miserable caucus.
I’d love to know what Mr. Manning was smoking when he came up with that one.
My money’s on Prime Minister Carney turning out to be the William Lyon Mackenzie King of the 21st Century.
PP may be waiting for us to come to our senses, but another possibility is we already have and that year or so when the polls were so good for him was the aberration.
I’m not surprised he is planning to stick around and maybe his party will let him. Conservatives do have a long history of stubbornly sticking with leaders out of step with the country, probably more than getting rid of them quickly.
If the PM is the current version of Mackenzie King, then perhaps Poilievre could be Meighan, Diefenbaker or Stanfield who all lost one election or more to the Liberals and still stayed on regardless. Remember their party does not like change, except when it does.
Not surprisingly, Manning seems to either be misunderstanding or misinterpreting things. The MP’s joining the Liberals now are mostly from the CPC, they may be turn coats, but mostly not socialist ones. Any yes, there could be more. It took years for Diefenbaker to get the hint, PP may linger for a while too.
My money is on Carney turning out to be Harper 2.0
Change my mind.
Patrick: Well, that would be essentially Mackenzie King 3.0, so I can’t argue with that. DJC
No ouija boards … yet.
As for cons having a united caucus, well, 4 floor crossers make that statement gaslighting of high order.
@Patrick
Dog help us. I barely fought my way through that and I was a lot younger, then.
“If Conservative voters were feeling betrayed by the floor crossings, they didn’t show up to say so at the ballot boxes.”
As our current premier can so easily attest, voters who are annoyed with floor crossers will definitely punish the politicians involved.
PP never could read the room. That’s the problem with arrogance masquerading as leadership.
Love or hate Carney, the dude can read the room and adapt. Except on foreign policy for some reason.
B: Nowadays, sadly, foreign policy in most Western democracies has become a domestic issue in one particular regard. DJC
The Liberals would love for Skippy to hang around for a long long time. As far as the Liberals are concerned Skippy is the gift that keeps on giving. Sort of like the jam of the month club.
You know, I’ve been following politics since the late 1970s — I became old enough to vote in 1977. I’ve never voted Conservative, although I might have voted Liberal at least once back in my youth — NDP ever since though.
But for most of that time, Conservatives were at least mostly decent people, even if I didn’t agree with their views. Bob Stanfield, Joe Clark, Bill Davis, even Brian Mulroney, all had positive aspects to their personality and their politics. But now?
Who can replace Poilièvre? The modern Conservative Party has imposed its own purity tests on its representatives, driving out the moderates. When even a dominionist social conservative like Jason Kenney is now being seen as an “adult in the room”, how deeply entrenched is the “take no prisoners” approach to politics into the conservative movement across this country?
Find me a prominent conservative politician who isn’t a cruel, heartless, worthless piece of shite.
Everything anybody needs to know about the tw0 faced untrustworthy creep in his own words,
““Politics should not be a lifelong career,” a 20-year-old Pierre Poilievre once wrote, “and elected officials should not be allowed to fix themselves in the halls of power of a nation.””
“Still, you’d think he would have remembered that he lost his own Ontario riding and just to stay in the game had to a make one of his MPs let him have a do-over by-election…” Mr. Peepers recently complained about floor crossers saying they should face a by-election before doing so. Okay, then MPs who get the bum’s rush in their home riding should have to wait until the next election before running elsewhere. Assuming he could survive a caucus revolt he could still direct his flock from the visitor’s gallery with hand signals and comical facial expressions.
I wonder which riding PP will run in for the next election. . .
“This is a long game that we’re playing, we’re prepared to do that work, but I absolutely stand behind Pierre Poilievre as our leader.”
Therein lies the problem. It’s all a big game to the Cons and their leader, while the U.S. president plays for keeps. The Cons are the mice in this game of cat and mice.
This is not the time for cheap slogans and glib one-liners. This is not the time for poverty tourism in a trailer on the Nova Scotia border. Listen carefully while Poilievre, who refused to vacate his taxpayer-funded mansion with household staff and a chauffeur when he lost his seat, tells us how to sleep in the trunk of a car. Does the trunk have high-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets provided free of charge and laundered by staff? You can fool some of the people some of the time but even the fools can’t be fooled forever.
It seems that Poilievre does not have a problem with anyone winning a seat in a byelection, as long as that person is him. That’s why he headed to zero-risk Battle River-Crowfoot to run again.
Does Stephen Harper have time on his hands in Alberta now that Viktor Orbán has been kicked to the curb? How convenient to have all the Conservative children in one place.
Does Preston Manning really want IQ tests for MPs? What an elitist. Aren’t MPs supposed to represent Canadians from all walks of life? Note: representing does not mean “ruling”.
Also, it sounds like Pierre Poilievre is using the same speech writer. He slammed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s education (BA in Economics, Harvard; MA and PhD in Economics, Oxford). He bashed those folks on the N.S. border at the same time. They would fit his definition of “uneducated”. Good news! They’re one step above the PM, who is “poorly educated”. Who knows numbers and counting and economic stuff best? That’s right, your boy PP. (The initials so nice he has them twice. Is that a fantastic slogan or what?)
Manning and Poilievre deserve their well-earned place on the trash heap of Canadian history.
So many choices, in politics as in life, boil down to “faute de mieux” — for lack of anything better. Hence Carney Liberals and Nenshi New Democrats. C’est la vie.
These Reformers have to be some of the dumbest people in the world if they think Poilievre is a smart politician when the guy’s only solution to any problem is blame it on someone else, just like Smith does. Canadians know they made a huge mistake electing Reformer Stephen Harper from Calgary and they aren’t going to elect another Reformer from Calgary in Pierre Poilievre are they? I expect more to join the Liberals don’t you? Carney has proven he’s a lot smarter and the smart conservatives know Poilievre is their problem.
I haven’t forgotten the former Social Credit MLAs who told me that they were really impressed with Lougheed and would have liked to have work with him.
With a Liberal majority, PP probably has about 15 months to see if he can turn around Conservative polling numbers. If not, that would still leave plenty of time for a leadership contest well in advance of the next federal election. I wonder if Tim Houston is taking French lessons?
I am inclined to agree. Preston is having some sort of delusion. As much as I lean leftwards, I cannot imagine a scenario where this sort of defection from the Natural Governing Party would occur.
It is more obvious that PP is arrogant and conceited, he with his 10 year B.A. from the U of C/U of Athabasca, vs. the PM with an M.A. from Oxford. It takes audacity to claim a former central banker, and a man so well educated is not qualified in economic matters.
My summation for PP, is that he should realize he has much to be humble about.
For me, Poilievre will always be Harper’s yappy little lap dog. And if he’s the best the Conservatives have, well……., sorry about their luck. LOL
No surprise Mr. Poilievre wants to stick around..he is a career politician with a salary over $300k/year with an annual 4% increase baked in … no job action required. Employment in provincial or municipal politics would not keep him in the manner to which he has become accustomed.
No surprise that PM Carney was laughing and joking at the post-byelection news conference. The longer that PP sticks around, the more support grows for the Liberals – even in the Red State of Alberta. I doubt that anyone will take the initiative to tell PP to get lost, for the good of the party. Not even grandpa Stephen Harper, who must be questioning his raison d’etre after the defeat of his buddy Orban and the unravelling of MAGA. My guess is Harper will be quite happy to collect his Government of Alberta paycheque, while his acolyte Jason Kenney ramps up fundraising for an eventual run at the CPC leadership. What a world we live in where Kenney seems like a moderate Conservative!
Looking to the past, and a precedent set…
“Pierre – Who?”
Pierre Poilievre just isn’t ready. He never will be.
Had not Carney get involved in politics, this idiot would have sold us to MAGA. He is a junior Viktor Orban. Harper who supported the Hungarian autocrat gave us the very first steps of media control and scientists muzzling. He was not able to gather enough support to continue the assault he had planned to create what he helped Viktor Orban create in Hungary. What they warmly call ‘Illiberal Democracy’.