Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said he is ready to get back to work and dismissed any suggestion that Conservatives are seeking a new leader despite the party’s fourth federal election loss in a decade.
“I am very eager to get back to Parliament,” Poilievre told reporters after confirming he will run in an upcoming byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot, Alberta.
He lost his Carleton, Ontario riding by 4,315 votes but thanked constituents for their past support, saying Conservatives will “spend a lot of the summer listening carefully.”
Blacklock's Reporter says the election saw a marked increase in Conservative support, with 8,086,051 votes — or 41.3%—cast for the party, electing 144 MPs. That compares to 5,747,410 votes (33.7%) and 119 seats in 2021.
“This election gave us some gains, obviously — 2.3 million additional votes and 25 more MPs,” said Poilievre. “The math has changed dramatically.”
Poilievre added that while 41% of the vote would have once seemed like a strong path to victory, it no longer guarantees government.
“If you had told me we would get 41% of the vote a couple years ago I would have said, ‘Wow, that’s ambitious,’” he said. “But if you told me we would get that and still not win, I would have said you’re crazy.”
Despite the loss, Conservative MPs expressed full support for Poilievre’s leadership.
“We had a fantastic campaign that fell short,” said MP Andrew Scheer. “We have to look through the lens of the tremendous amount of growth we can build on.”
Scheer noted increased support from voters who had either never supported the Conservatives or had never voted at all. “We are incredibly encouraged by that,” he said.
MP Michael Barrett urged newly elected members to stay grounded. “We campaigned under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre who has made it his mission to put Canadians first,” he said. “Remember who sent you here and why.”
Under the Reform Act of 2015, caucus members can trigger a leadership review by secret ballot, a process used only once — in 2022 — to remove then-leader Erin O’Toole. O’Toole acknowledged his time had passed: “I have had my moment.”
Past frustrations with repeated leadership changes remain fresh.
“Changing the leader every two years after every election is not the way,” former senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu said after the 2021 defeat. “We have to have a continuum in our leadership. It’s my opinion.”