The deal to have Conservative MP Michael Ma cross the floor to become a Liberal MP was brokered by Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson.
News of the move was kept to a tight inner circle up until the announcement was made — with Ma’s staff not even knowing.
Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre has the support of the majority of Conservative voters, a new poll suggests, as he approaches a leadership review in early 2026.
According to Nov. 30 polling from Abacus Data, 66 percent of Conservative voters say they would vote to keep Poilievre as leader, while 22 percent would vote to replace him, and the remainder were unsure. Among decided Conservative voters, 75 percent would vote to keep Poilievre at the helm.
OTTAWA—Frustrated grassroots Conservatives are mounting efforts to wrest control of candidate nominations away from senior party officials, as members prepare for a national convention where Pierre Poilievre is set to face a critical test of his leadership.
The Conservative party’s national convention will be held at the end of January in Calgary, near the rural riding where Poilievre clinched his parliamentary comeback after the loss of his Ottawa-area seat and a bruising election defeat earlier this year.
OTTAWA–The drama of a budget vote had every political animal in the country on the edge of their seat.
And in the end, it was a cliffhanger. But in reality, the outcome should not have been a surprise to anyone.
Having just come off an election this past spring, there was zero appetite to go back to the polls for most political parties.
The only leader who could have benefited from an election is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. A ‘no’ vote would have meant that his mandated January 2026 party review would be cancelled.
OTTAWA — On a Tuesday night, on the eighth floor of a building bordering Ottawa’s Parliamentary Precinct, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani stood before a small crowd to denounce “Liberal racism” — a form of “discrimination” he believes is eroding meritocracy, eradicating diversity of thought and tearing Canadians apart.
About 50 people filled the nondescript room, where bottles of Bud Light — a beer branded “woke” by the right in 2023 after partnering with a transgender influencer — were cheekily on offer for attendees.
It seems like not an hour goes by without some political observer advancing their particular version of the thesis that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is “in trouble.”
I understand why there’s been a temptation to start writing political obituaries following the departure of two Conservative MPs, obvious though it is that each made the life choice that was ultimately best for them. Pollster David Colleto summed up the situation perfectly with this conundrum: “Poilievre’s popularity is unprecedented. But is his future safe as Conservative leader?”
The short answer is yes.
There has been a good deal of nasty talk recently, especially in notoriously Liberal journalistic circles, about dissenters crumbling away from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre into the outstretched arms of the Liberal government, straining to scavenge itself into a parliamentary majority. The customary version is that the Liberals are rubbing their hands in glee at this anticipated Conservative disintegration but prayerfully hope that it will not shake out the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, whom they believe to be a permanent doormat for them on the threshold of the prime minister’s residence, (if it is ever ready for reoccupation).
Yesterday, Pierre Poilievre held his first media availability since the floor crossing that had politicos (and many Canadians) picking their jaws up off the floor. He stood at the mic with a few of his MPs, hit his talking points and dodged answering questions about how he plans to hold his caucus together.
In his first media availability since two MPs announced they’re leaving his caucus, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he plans to continue leading the party as he has been.
When asked by a reporter to respond to comments by former Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont — who last Tuesday announced he was crossing the floor to the Liberals and later blamed Poilievre’s leadership style for his decision — Poilievre quoted previous remarks made by the defected MP in the House.
“First of all, I just quote Mr. d’Entremont,” Poilievre said, in response to the question about his leadership style, before reading d’Entremont’s previous criticisms of the Liberal government, including “out-of-control spending and massive deficits.”
Floor-crossing is just about the ultimate political betrayal, and the motivation of the political migrant is almost always self-serving. In the case of Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals last week, it is impossible to infer anything else.
Only about six months have elapsed since the last federal election, during and after which Mr. d’Entremont was happy to echo Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s “negativity,” which he now cites as the reason for his migration to the Liberal benches. He cannot reasonably claim that his constituents are better served by him now sitting with the governing party, because if they wanted to vote for that party, they would have back in April. Neither party has meaningfully changed its approach since spring (with the exception of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s more docile approach to U.S. President Donald Trump), and certainly not enough for Mr. d’Entremont to claim the ground has shifted so much as to justify his defection.
Leadership hypotheticals are always speculative, but they’re not pointless. Political leadership is about more than brand management or media presence, it’s the centre of the coalition, the public face of a movement, and often the determining factor in voting behaviour.
That’s why we conducted a survey of 2,922 Canadian adults between October 24 and 29, 2025, for the Toronto Star, exploring what might happen if Pierre Poilievre were no longer leading the federal Conservative Party. Would voters be more or less inclined to support the party? Are there other Conservative figures who might perform better in an election? And what does all this say about the shape and limits of the Conservative coalition today?
For the past couple of weeks, since Pierre Poilievre appeared on YouTube’s Northern Perspective, members of the dominant media in Canada have sounded like scorched rats howling in protest about his unfair comments regarding former prime minister Justin Trudeau. The problem with their frustrations seems to be more about what he said than about the facts. Poilievre simply recited some basic knowledge that everyone is familiar with. His conclusions irritate members of the Laurentian media because they bear responsibility for helping the RCMP keep this matter underreported.
OTTAWA — Conservative Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux says he will resign his seat in the House of Commons after days of intense speculation that he would cross the floor to the governing Liberals, as the party tried to stamp out flames of what had been a chaotic week.
In a letter obtained by National Post, the Edmonton Riverbend MP said he informed Conservative Party Whip Chris Warkentin on Thursday of his intention to resign from Parliament at an unspecified date.
If Pierre Poilievre is ever forced out of his role as Conservative leader, it won’t be due to internal caucus dissent, but rather mounting criticism from outside the party, say senior Conservatives and caucus members. They add that if he intends to remain as leader, he will need to secure a strong vote of confidence from delegates at the upcoming January convention in Calgary.
“It’s not going to be the caucus that would bring him down,” said one senior Conservative in a not-for-attribution interview with The Hill Times. “[It will be because of] People who are not part of the caucus. The smart people know you should never have a knife in your hand [when you are in caucus].”
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says he is “very” confident he will be the one to lead his party through the next election.
“I think both January and the next election will go in the right direction,” Poilievre said in an exclusive interview on Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday morning.
In January, Poilievre will face a mandatory leadership review, where his caucus will determine whether or not he will stay on as leader.
