{"id":681070,"date":"2026-05-20T03:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/681070\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T03:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:40:09","slug":"poilievres-inner-circle-shrinks-again-with-chief-of-staffs-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/681070\/","title":{"rendered":"Poilievre\u2019s inner circle shrinks again with chief of staff\u2019s departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during the annual Canada Strong and Free Network in Ottawa on May 7.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre<\/a> is losing another member of his inner circle, with his chief of staff announcing Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the parliamentary sitting.<\/p>\n

Chief of staff Ian Todd\u2019s departure comes on the heels of Katy Merrifield, Mr. Poilievre\u2019s director of communications, announcing last month she was leaving Ottawa to return home to B.C. <\/p>\n

The loss of two senior staff members in a matter of weeks highlights how the Conservatives are retooling as they grapple with what it looks like to be the opposition party in a majority government era. <\/p>\n

Mr. Todd became chief of staff shortly after Mr. Poilievre took over the party leadership in 2022, and his departure was expected eventually. In a letter circulated to the media, he said that after five decades on the front lines of politics, it was time to move on. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not easy to get off the saddle, but the time feels right,\u201d Mr. Todd wrote. <\/p>\n

Shannon Proudfoot: Pierre Poilievre encounters nothing but jerks, all day long<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Ms. Merrifield and Mr. Todd expressed their support for Mr. Poilievre, signalling their departures are not a vote of non-confidence in his leadership. <\/p>\n

Still, the question remains of how Mr. Poilievre will keep his team motivated and aligned in the months to come. <\/p>\n

The federal Conservatives have not won an election since 2011, and headed into the 2025 campaign, many have believed Mr. Poilievre represented their best shot. <\/p>\n

At one point in 2024, public support for the Tories was so high the party was projected to win more than 200 seats. <\/p>\n

Then Justin Trudeau resigned as Liberal leader, Mark Carney replaced him, the general election ended up turning on the question of governance amid geopolitical upheaval, and the Liberals emerged with another minority government. <\/p>\n

The Tories did pick up seats, including in ridings they\u2019ve never held before and won more of the popular vote than in the past. <\/p>\n

But Mr. Poilievre ended up losing his own seat and had to run in a by-election to get back in the House of Commons. <\/p>\n

Poilievre casts himself as a fighter who can take on Carney\u2019s Liberals<\/a><\/p>\n

The MP who stepped aside to create the opening, Damien Kurek, will run in that seat again, the party\u2019s national council has declared, so where Mr. Poilievre will run in the next election remains unknown. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018ll run in a riding that I think that I can well represent in the House of Commons,\u201d Mr. Poilievre told The Globe and Mail\u2019s editorial board on Friday. <\/p>\n

As the Official Opposition in a minority government, Mr. Poilievre\u2019s party had influence over whether the Carney Liberals could implement their agenda, as the government needed support of opposing parties to get anything done. <\/p>\n

But after four Conservative MPs and one New Democrat crossed the floor to join the Liberal caucus, and the party won three April by-elections, the Liberals now have the majority of seats and can press ahead largely unencumbered. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, under a minority, the prospect of an imminent election was always in the air. <\/p>\n

The fact that this threat has now receded is demonstrated by who is replacing Mr. Todd as chief of staff: Steve Outhouse, who had been appointed in November as the Tories\u2019 campaign manager for the next election. <\/p>\n

He\u2019ll now divide his time between the two jobs.<\/p>\n

More than half of Conservative voters want Poilievre to lead the party into next election<\/a><\/p>\n

Many MPs who ran under Mr. Poilievre\u2019s banner had done so in the belief their party would be in government. <\/p>\n

That they are chafing at still being in opposition is showcased by those who crossed the floor saying they\u2019d rather be on the governing side. <\/p>\n

The defections, and slumping poll numbers, have lowered morale in caucus; Conservative MPs have taken to checking their local polling numbers weekly and gaming out amongst themselves how many of them will lose their seats next time. The questions of who might replace Mr. Poilievre and when are quietly being raised within the ranks, though no challenger has declared themself. <\/p>\n

At The Globe\u2019s editorial board, the question of caucus morale was put to Mr. Poilievre and he was asked how he\u2019ll keep his team under those uncertain conditions. <\/p>\n

He said there are no bad seats in the House of Commons, and he and his MPs will keep fighting on behalf of their voters from the last election. <\/p>\n

The next election will turn on whether Mr. Carney has delivered what he promised, Mr. Poilievre said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s still a lot of illusion about what he will eventually do, but that illusion can\u2019t survive three years. It might be able to survive another year, but it can\u2019t survive three years,\u201d Mr. Poilievre said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at some point, people are going to say, \u2018Well, where are the results?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during the annual Canada Strong and Free Network…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":["post-681070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}