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Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Poilievre could face leadership review as early as March
The Conservative party's national council is expected to meet mid-June to determine when leader Pierre Poilievre will face a leadership review, but there's still no sign of an overarching review of the party's failure to defeat the Liberals on April 28. The election returned a Liberal minority government, and while some Conservatives privately say Prime Minister Mark Carney could govern for as long as four years, others say work on fixing their failure to defeat him must start now. Two Conservative sources told The Globe and Mail the party's executive director is proposing national council sign off on a March leadership review, which would give party members the chance to vote on whether Mr. Poilievre should remain as leader. The Globe is not identifying the sources as they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal party matters. But, Calgary MP Greg McLean, recently appointed to lead an economic growth council advising Mr. Poilievre, told the Globe he's been instructed to be ready to present his findings at a January convention. The party did not return a request for comment. Since the formation of the modern Conservative Party, one other leader has faced a leadership review: Stephen Harper. He lost the 2004 election, held shortly after he became leader. In the review, members voted overwhelmingly to let him stay, and he went on to win three elections. Opinion: In Poilievre's defeat, a familiar call for patience – and a new appreciation for second chances Neither of Mr. Harper's successors – Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole – made it to a leadership review. Mr. Scheer stepped down, and Mr. O'Toole was forced out by MPs. When asked by reporters Friday if he was worried about a challenge to his leadership, Mr. Poilievre said 'no.' 'We had the biggest vote count in our party's history, the biggest increase in our party's history, the biggest vote share since 1988 and we're going to continue to work to get over the finish line,' he said. Mr. Harper, Mr. Scheer and Mr. O'Toole all commissioned reviews of their election defeats. MPs and grassroots party members insist one needs to be done now too. One effort by MPs to get a former colleague to do a probe fell flat. Some rank-and-file party members are considering organizing to force a public discussion of what they see as the campaign's failings if public steps to address and correct them aren't taken soon. Specific frustrations include the target seat program, bottlenecks around decision making, outdated campaign literature and top-down control over what local candidates could do. But the biggest anger is around nominations, and people blocked from running at the last minute in favour of hand-picked candidates. Riding and campaign managers in Ontario and British Columbia told the Globe that national campaign manager Jenni Byrne must address those shortcomings, and step back from future campaigns, or they will try to band together to oust her. Opinion: The good and unnecessarily bad of Pierre Poilievre The Globe is not naming the sources so they could speak candidly about internal party affairs. The last Conservative convention was in 2023, so one was expected soon anyway. National council can call a convention with 90 days notice, which could also neutralize grassroots efforts to force changes as there wouldn't be enough time to engage formal policy or constitutional processes. Though Conservatives did win more seats, Mr. Poilievre lost his own. He's planning to run in a by-election for an Alberta riding. Those close to him say few major changes will be made to anything the party does until that election ends. Still, there are smaller steps being taken. Long-time Conservative communications professional Katy Merrifield will soon join the staff. Jeff Ballingall, a conservative strategist, is also being brought on to help with Mr. Poilievre's image and message. Mr. McLean, the MP leading Mr. Poilievre's economic council, said his group is working to keeping policy going in the right direction. 'What Canadians saw at the end of the day was the Liberals embracing Conservative policy positions,' he said. 'Part of what we're doing with this exercise is [ensuring] we do have the ability to continue that kind of process: 'Here are the Conservative policies, Mark Carney et al, can you please follow these policies? They're better for the country than what you've been putting forward so far.''
CTV News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Liberals need partners, all parties ‘must pull together' against U.S. threat: political expert
The Liberal Party of Canada is set to form a minority government in the wake of Monday night's federal election, and that will come with challenges, one expert says. 'Presuming that the Governor General asks them to form government, they're going to have to find some partners out there, whether formally or not, to get their legislation passed,' said Trevor Harrison, professor emeritus of political sociology at the University of Lethbridge. It's how the system works, Harrison says, and we'll just have to deal with it. 'Going into negotiations with the United States, with a very unpredictable president, it would be nice to have a very strong government that doesn't have to keep going back to find if it has support on things,' he said. 'On the other hand, Canadians have always been pretty good at compromising coalitions and we're going to have to do that even more so if it's a minority government. 'All the parties have to pull together to deal with, really, the threat from the south.' Harrison says Monday night brought a few surprises in the east, but to the west in the Prairies and Alberta, not so much. That part of the country remains, largely, Conservative blue. Michelle Rempel Garner was quickly declared the winner in Calgary Nose Hill, marking the first Conservative win of many in Calgary and the rest of southern Alberta. In Calgary and southern Alberta, declarations had been made for Conservative candidates in the following ridings at the time of this writing: Michelle Rempel Garner in Calgary Nose Hill; Stephanie Kusie in Calgary Midnapore; Damien Kurek in Battle River-Crowfoot; David Bexte in Bow River; John Barlow in Foothills; Rachael Thomas in Lethbridge; Glen Motz in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner; Bailey Burton in Red Deer; Shuv Majumdar in Calgary Heritage; Blake Richards in Airdrie-Cochrane; Blaine Calkins in Ponoka-Didsbury; William Stevenson in Yellowhead; David McKenzie in Calgary Signal Hill; Pat Kelly in Calgary Crowfoot; Jasraj Hallan in Calgary East; Tom Kmiec in Calgary East; and Greg McLean in Calgary Centre. The Conservatives' Greg McLean retook Calgary Centre after a back and forth battle with the Liberals' Lindsay Luhnau. The Conservatives' Greg McLean retook Calgary Centre after a back and forth battle with the Liberals' Lindsay Luhnau. Harrison noted at the time he spoke to CTV News Calgary, the Liberals were still hoping to pull a couple of seats in Calgary. But at the time of this writing, the Liberals Calgary Confederation looked less likely than just an hour or so before, and it looked like the Liberals were also going to lose their seat in Calgary McKnight as well. Calgary Skyview also appeared to be a loss. 'We are going to be seeing recounts,' Harrison said. 'That could bring its own surprises.' It looked like the Liberals' George Chahal was going to lose his seat in Calgary McKnight. The loss was not yet declared at the time of this writing. It looked like the Liberals' George Chahal was going to lose his seat in Calgary McKnight. The loss was not yet declared at the time of this writing. Harrison says it's going to be interesting to see how Alberta's United Conservative government interacts with the new Liberal government. He notes Premier Danielle Smith was laying out demands to whomever won before the election even occurred. 'This is not exactly a handshake way of engaging with a new government,' he said. '(It's) part of the DNA of the UCP, but it also runs long in Alberta politics, is you run against Ottawa, and particularly you run against Liberal governments.' With files by Brendan Ellis and Camilla Di Giuseppe
