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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will try to rally his MPs after a summer of conservative movement infighting and polling that shows his party continuing to trail the federal Liberals by double-digits.
Poilievre and the Conservative caucus are gathering in Penticton, B.C., for a strategy session ahead of the House of Commons’ return next week.
The Conservative leader enters the fall sitting with his party trailing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals. Polling aggregator 338 Canada has the Liberals with 46 per cent popular support, with the Conservatives at 33 per cent.
Poilievre has also faced continued questions about his leadership from within the Conservative family, after publicly taking what was seen as a shot at Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s campaign manager, Kory Teneycke.
While congratulating former MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay on winning the leadership of the B.C. Conservatives, Poilievre declared it a victory over “liberal lobbyists” from Eastern Canada, a comment widely interpreted as directed at Teneycke, who worked on a rival campaign.
Findlay went on to lose several MLAs, who left the party publicly due to her leadership. Teneycke also publicly shot back at the Conservative leader, suggesting Poilievre was not long for the job. Several prominent Conservative voices spent the summer publicly opining on the future of the party.
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Despite the internal turmoil, Poilievre’s comments Tuesday ahead of the retreat sounded like they could’ve come from one of his 2025 election campaign speeches.
“The promise of Canada – that if you work hard, you get a great life, a home you can own, food you can afford, a safe street to live on – that promise is broken after 11 years of Liberal government,” Poilievre said.
“Our mission as Conservatives is to fight for you and to fight for Canada, to save you money. That is our single biggest immediate priority.”
Poilievre took a dig at Carney, accusing the prime minister of participating in “summits and signing ceremonies” – a reference to the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto this week, where the government is trying to lure $1 trillion in foreign investment to the country – rather than delivering results for Canadian voters.
The Conservative leader also questioned Carney’s push for stronger partnership with the European Union – suggesting that the Liberals could force Canadians to pay taxes to the EU or adopt the bloc’s immigration policies, neither of which has been suggested by the government.
“We want Canada to have free trade with Europe, cooperation with Europe, but we never surrender our independence and sovereignty over our laws, our tax money, and our immigration policies,” Poilievre said.
Polling released by Abacus Data Monday suggested that 80 per cent of Canadians support deepening cooperation with European nations on foreign policy, defence and economic priorities – including a strong majority of Poilievre’s own supporters.
“Ninety-two per cent of Liberal voters support deeper cooperation with the EU. So do 92 per cent of NDP voters and 86 per cent of Bloc voters,” Abacus CEO David Colletto wrote of the findings.
“Among Conservative voters, support is lower but still reaches 69 per cent.”
The House of Commons is set to return on Sept. 21.
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