Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pulled in an overwhelming share of the vote in his leadership review held Friday night, a sign that the vast majority of party members are united behind his leadership.
Roughly 87 per cent of the delegates on hand in Calgary for the party’s convention voted to stick with Poilievre as leader — a figure that is higher than what former prime minister Stephen Harper achieved at his own leadership review back in 2005, after he also lost his first election to a Liberal.
A result less than the 84 per cent Harper won at that review would have prompted questions about Poilievre’s viability. But with such a strong showing, there can be no doubt about how Conservatives feel about his job at the top.
Steve Outhouse, Poilievre’s new campaign manager, told CBC News that the result is better than some Conservatives had expected and that it sends a strong signal about the direction of the party.
“That’s a really clear mandate from our membership, and now we can focus on getting ready for the election, whenever that will be,” Outhouse said. “It’s a big boost to his leadership. It’s very gratifying.”
Rocky year for Poilievre and his party
Party members looked past a rocky year for Poilievre and the Conservative movement in Canada. He blew a 20-point polling lead heading into the last general election in April and lost to Prime Minister Mark Carney, a political newcomer.
He also went down to defeat in his own Ottawa-area seat and only got back into Parliament by decamping to one of the safest Conservative ridings in the country in Alberta.
Three MPs have bristled at his leadership style and defected to the Liberals or announced their resignation. Polls suggest Poilievre’s favourability ratings among Canadians are at their lowest point ever and that Carney’s Liberals are leading in most surveys.
WATCH | Poilievre focuses on affordability in speech to Conservative delegates:
‘Conservatives see you,’ Poilievre talks about ‘unseen’ work in key speech focused on affordability
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who made a critical prime-time speech to party delegates on Friday, drove home a message on affordability, the dignity of work and the need for government to allow people to run their own lives.
Still, party members decided it was better to stick with the leader they know.
The absence of any viable contender for the top job and a unified parliamentary caucus — at least in public — also helped Poilievre secure the title and the chance to take on Carney again, whenever the next federal election comes around.
“I didn’t think anybody would beat Stephen Harper,” former deputy leader Lisa Raitt said of Poilievre’s favourable vote share. “He has an iron grip on the party.”
While Poilievre has secured his place among the membership, there was a pervasive fear among delegates in Calgary that there could be another floor-crossing.
Another MP joining Carney’s team — plus a Liberal byelection win in Chrystia Freeland’s former Toronto-area seat she recently vacated — would deliver a majority government and possibly leave the Conservatives on the Opposition benches for years.
Outhouse said Poilievre and his team are still alert to that possibility.
“Politics is an unpredictable world,” he said. “But we’re ready now to work with any member of the Conservative Party who wants to focus on winning the next election.”
As for the path forward, Outhouse said Poilievre will be travelling the country, holding town halls and meeting with more young people as he tries to reach out to prospective voters.
WATCH | Poilievre speaks of strength from family — and why he keeps going:
Poilievre draws cheers as he speaks of family, meaning — and why he keeps going
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre described a small paper Spider-Man his son gave him to take on the road and the power of seeing his daughter with autism speak for the first time as he outlined why he keeps going, saying ‘we want our kids to have the same promise that we had.’
Speaking to delegates early Saturday morning, Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, who was billed as the party’s “first lady,” called her husband’s vote share an “amazing result.”
MP Leslyn Lewis said it’s a sign that members have embraced party unity.
If there’s an early election, “we will be ready,” Lewis said. “Ready because we have the right vision for this country, and Canada desperately needs Pierre Poilievre to become the next prime minister of this great nation.”
‘Slings and arrows’ of leadership
Poilievre delivered a rousing speech on Friday just before most delegates cast their ballots.
While he leaned on familiar themes and deployed some of the same lines he used during the last election campaign, Poilievre also signalled something of a tonal shift — presenting a sunnier disposition throughout and staying away from the sloganeering that was a staple of his past political rhetoric.
Poilievre also spoke about the struggles of being a leader — facing the “slings and arrows” and spending long stretches away from his family — but he said the sacrifice was worth it to help restore what he called “the Canadian promise” for young people who feel the country has gone adrift.
He also invoked his daughter, Valentina, who is autistic. He said hearing her speak for the first time is something that inspires him to “keep on fighting through the hardship.”
Supporters cheer for Poilievre at the Conservative Party of Canada’s national convention before party delegates vote on the future of his leadership, in Calgary on Friday. (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)
Poilievre — who made a political name for himself by saying “Canada is broken” and blaming the Liberals for ruining the country — focused on more patriotic rhetoric and invoked Canadian greatness in his remarks.
He spoke of the workers who drove in the spikes to build the Canadian Pacific Railway and unite the country, and the soldiers who endured the horrors of trench warfare in the First World War.
He drew a parallel between that determination to build a seemingly impossible railway through unfriendly terrain or finish the fight in a gruelling war to his commitment to stay on as leader and finish what he started, despite the obstacles.
“Only Canadians could carve the world’s best country out of a big, cold, vast land. Because we never give up. We never back down. We never run away,” he said.
“We stand united tonight, together, always, because this country, its people and promise are worth fighting for.”
And while Poilievre faced criticism from some people within his own party for essentially ignoring U.S. President Donald Trump and his threats in the last federal election, the leader made no mention of him by name.
He did call Trump’s tariffs “unfair and unresolved,” and he said Canada must be “united and strong” and “bow before no nation” — but it was evident Poilievre is reluctant to make that fight a central plank of his leadership.
Instead, he signalled he wants to lean into the issues he champions that resonate with voters anxious about other things, namely the cost of living and crime.
Raitt, the party’s former deputy leader, said that focus on domestic “bread and butter” issues while Carney is consumed with foreign policy could pay off in the long run.
“Trump is not going to be top of mind forever. At some point, the day-to-day kind of things that people are going through, that’s where Mr. Poilievre is building a lead over the prime minister.”