Former Tory Leader Scheer Says Poilievre Staying On, Defends Campaign

Tory MP Andrew Scheer speaks with reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons, Jan 7, 2025 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Conservative MP Andrew Scheer says Pierre Poilievre will continue on as party leader following the recent electoral defeat, noting that the party will focus on strategies for Poilievre to regain a seat in the House of Commons in the future.

“I can tell you that Pierre is staying on. He’s fighting, he’s going to work with our caucus, he’s going to work with our loyal volunteers, our activists, to keep the momentum going,” Scheer said during an April 30 interview with CTV News.

Scheer, who led the Conservative Party from 2017 to 2020, said the party saw “incredible gains” in the April 28 election. He noted the Tories gained 25 seats and the party achieved its highest percentage of the vote—41.3 percent—since 1988, when Conservative Leader Brian Mulroney formed a majority government.

The Liberal Party won a minority government in the election with 169 seats, three short of the 172 required to form a majority. The Conservative Party won 144 seats, the Bloc Québécois 22 seats, the NDP seven seats, and the Greens one seat.

Poilievre lost in his riding of Carleton, which he had held since 2004. Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy received 50.8 percent of the vote in the riding, while Poilievre received 45.8 percent.

Scheer said the Conservatives lost their lead in the polls after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign in January, and the Liberals subsequently elected a new leader in Mark Carney. Scheer argued Carney “didn’t get a lot of scrutiny from the media.”

Scheer said while the Tories have “more work to do” to determine what happened in the election loss, he said “there’s an incredible base of support“ that could not have been achieved ”without Pierre Poilievre’s inspirational leadership.”

“I am very confident that as we get through the difficult days, the next days and weeks, as we figure some of these things out, we’re going to come out the other side with a more united team, with a bigger team, with more representation from more provinces, and Pierre is the man to deliver that victory,” Scheer said.

Scheer was also asked about recent comments from Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston that were critical of the federal Conservatives’ campaign.

Ford said on April 30 that he did not assist the federal Conservatives during the campaign because “Pierre Poilievre never came out in our election,” and said Canadian voters had spoken. Meanwhile, Houston said the Conservatives needed to “to do some soul searching” and that they had been “very good at pushing people away, not so good at pulling people in.”

Scheer said it was “factually incorrect” to say that the Conservatives pushed people away when they received more votes and seats than previous federal Conservative leaders.

“We’re in this not because we were worried about interpersonal relationships with someone like Doug Ford. We’re worried about the people in Ontario who are affected by terrible Liberal policies. That’s who we are listening to,” Scheer said, adding that Poilievre received more votes in Ontario than Ford received during the provincial election in February.

Poilievre won 3,315,575 votes in Ontario on April 28, while Ford received 2,158,452 votes in February’s provincial election. Ford’s government had its third consecutive election win and secured a third majority.