Conservative Party

Much of this week and next week will see Conservative Party partisans gathering in Calgary at the party convention and in Ottawa to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stephen Harper’s election and swearing-in as Canada’s 22nd prime minister.

These will be two weeks for Canada’s conservative movement, filled with reflections on past successes and examining today’s challenges. Much of the discussion will revolve around the lessons that can be learned from the successes of the Harper victory of 20 years ago and what can be ported forward to 2026, as conservatives aspire to earn the privilege of governing Canada again.

What kind of conservative is Pierre Poilievre, exactly? It’s a question lots of Canadians were asking a little over a year ago, when the Conservative Party Leader looked almost certain to become Canada’s 24th Prime Minister. Commentators analyzed his every move; political scientists theorized about his coalition; critics warned about his populist brand of conservatism.

Then things changed, upended by a U.S. President who seems intent on blowing up not just Canadian politics, but the entire world order. And after a historic Liberal comeback, many of those same people have now written Mr. Poilievre off as a man whose moment has passed. A little less than a year after what was predicted to be a coronation, he now faces a party leadership review.

OTTAWA — It’s weeks into a new year and U.S. President Donald Trump is everywhere, again.

Not just everywhere, but on stage at a gathering of world elites, where he reinforced to the crowd of political leaders and the investor class that had descended on the Swiss town of Davos of his desires to make Greenland his own.

OTTAWA — New research shows there are deep divides between Conservative supporters and the rest of the country — a finding Tory grassroots will grapple with when they gather at their party’s national convention in Calgary next week.

The numbers also suggest the Conservative coalition largely believes the party should hold the line when it comes to standing by their principles, even if doing so makes it harder to topple more than a decade of Liberal rule.

It’s going to take a lot of Canadians waking up and realizing they’ve been treated like serfs by Carney’s Liberal Party.

One of the reasons for this is that it takes deep-diving into everything Carney, his bank governor role here, his expedient move to the UK after press found out Liberals were wooing him for leader instead of Trudeau, his UK decisions, his UN climate role, his role at GFANZ,… https://t.co/OmGX9lUXdu

— Terry Newman (@TLNewmanMTL) January 21, 2026

The Conservative Party of Canada has confirmed that Pierre Poilievre will not run in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding in the next federal election.

The party leader lost his long-held seat in the Ontario riding of Carleton in April’s federal election to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy.

The CPC confirmed on Tuesday that Damien Kurek — who held the Battle River-Crowfoot seat previously — would run in the riding again in the next election.

A little odd.

OTTAWA—When party faithful gather at the Conservative convention in Calgary later this month, they’ll be thinking about a lot more than Pierre Poilievre’s leadership vote.

Tory grassroots will also be sinking their teeth into meaty debates as they work to update the party’s constitution and policy book.

While party leaders are not forced to include policies adopted at the convention in future election campaigns, a refreshed policy blueprint can solidify a party’s identity: something the Conservatives need after their fourth straight election loss.

Pierre Poilievre is surely looking forward to what 2026 will bring. But while the new year may still be in its infancy, there are two pressing matters he needs to deal with right off the bat.

First, he faces a mandatory leadership review at the Conservative Party’s national convention in Calgary from Jan. 29-31. A few left-leaning political commentators have attempted to turn this into a big deal. They point to a Dec. 11, 2025 Angus Reid Institute survey that showed only 58 per cent of “recent Conservative voters” want him to stay on as leader in the next election. That survey doesn’t tell the whole story, however. There’s a big difference between the views of loyal Conservative party members, who are strongly behind Poilievre, and the unreliable, ever-shifting allegiances of Canadian voters. The former group, and not the latter, will ultimately decide Poilievre’s fate.

OTTAWA — Conservative grassroots will debate amending the party’s policy towards diversity, as well as deleting a clause that says a future government would not support legislation restricting abortion, when they meet in Calgary later this month.

Delegates from across the country will gather at the party’s first convention since the 2025 spring election loss to vote on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s future as party leader, as well as changes to the party’s policy and constitution

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre paused when asked how he’d describe the last year.

He was speaking with The Globe and Mail as part of a run of year-end interviews, many of which focused on the news of the two MPs who quit his party and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals.

The surprise defections brought the minority Liberals to within one seat of a majority, and no one knows for certain whether another MP will go and if they do, whether Mr. Poilievre can remain as leader.

Well relocating his seat to Alberta may turn out for the best.

Looks like there will be a separation referendum in Alberta in 2026. As a risk manager, it is important to weigh tail risk events like this.

Alberta’s separation would create a fiscal shock of historic proportions for the country. The province is by far the biggest net…

— Martin Pelletier (@MPelletierCIO) December 28, 2025

h/t Mauser

It’s late December and diehard Leafs fans can still hope for a run for the Stanley Cup. Winter is a time for optimism; spring brings harsh realities.

The same has been true for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). This time last year, they were 25 points ahead in the polls. Pierre Poilievre was cruising to the prime minister’s office until he got hit with a couple of hockey sticks.

Pierre Poilievre says that 2025 has been a “hell of a year.”

Sitting in the boardroom of Postmedia’s headquarters for a year-end interview, it’s an interesting reflection on how things have changed since last year’s interview.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, for the Conservative leader to lose one MP can be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

December is becoming a cruel month for some of Canada’s opposition leaders, from Quebec to B.C. Now, with the second floor crossing from the federal Conservatives to the Liberals in under a month, Pierre Poilievre must consider his own future.

Having lost the April federal election in spectacular fashion — including losing his own seat — the hits keep coming for Poilievre as Mark Carney’s Liberals steal not only his ideas, but also his team, leaving the opposition leader denuded and adrift.

Well that’s an unsettling thought. I mean the denuded part.

The knives are out? Or is someone just testing the water?

Is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre a dead man walking? Perhaps not yet, but after MP Michael Ma’s shock floor crossing last week, he is certainly limping. The defection reignited the conversation about Poilievre’s leadership that started at budget time, when Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont defected to the Liberals and fellow MP Matt Jeneroux resigned to sit as an independent, bringing the Liberals within sight of a majority government.

Who?

Less than one week after the Conservatives lost another MP to the Liberals, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre won’t explicitly rule out whether more of his caucus members will cross the floor.

“I think Canadians have a reasonable expectation that when you run on a platform to bring down the cost of living, to control spending, to lock up criminals, that you shouldn’t then go and join the party. That’s doing precisely the opposite,” Poilievre said in a year-end interview with CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos, when asked directly about that possibility.