Some Conservative MPs are expressing support for party leader Pierre Poilievre after he lost both the federal election and his own seat on Monday.
In his concession speech early Tuesday morning, Poilievre indicated he would stay on as leader. The Conservative party did not respond when asked Wednesday whether he has officially decided to stay.
“My view is he’s not going anywhere,” said Kory Teneycke, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s former campaign manager and a former director of communications for former prime minister Stephen Harper.
Teneycke—who made headlines during the election when he told media that Poilievre’s team had committed “campaign malpractice”—said the Conservative campaign pivoted and improved as time went on.
He said Poilievre will stay on because he finished “strong enough that there'll be a lot of people in the party that will want that to happen.”
“I think the caucus that was elected this election is chock-full of Poilievre loyalists and people who owe their seat to his leadership, and I think they'll very much want to see him stay,” he added.
In an online post Wednesday, veteran Conservative MP Mark Strahl said Poilievre has his full support and will win the next election.
“I’ve run in (five) election campaigns. The one just completed under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership was the best I have been a part of,” Strahl wrote. “His principled conservative leadership has consolidated, expanded and inspired our movement.”
MP Arpan Khanna said in his own post that under Poilievre, the Conservatives won new seats across the country and “delivered the highest vote percentage in modern Conservative history.”
He said Poilievre will “continue to lead the Conservative Party to great things. This is just the beginning.”
The Conservatives won 144 seats and just over 41 percent of the popular vote. The last time a conservative party hit that mark was in 1988, fifteen years before the modern Conservative party was formed in 2003.
The MPs’ online posts came a day after former party leader Andrew Scheer voiced his support for Poilievre. Both Scheer and Erin O'Toole were dropped from the party leadership after losing just once to the Liberals.
The Conservative party did not respond to questions about what its next steps might be.
Now that Poilievre has lost his long-held seat in the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, the party will have to choose an MP to serve as party leader in the House of Commons. A Conservative MP also would likely have to step down to allow Poilievre to run for a seat.
The party didn’t answer when asked whether Poilievre plans to run elsewhere. It also wouldn’t say whether he will be staying in Stornoway, the eight-bedroom official residence designated for the use of the leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons—who needs to be an MP.
Amanda Galbraith, a partner at Oyster Group and a former adviser to Harper, said there appears to be enough support for Poilievre to allow him to stay on as leader.
“I think there’s a really strong desire, at least from all the folks that I talk to on the ground, supporters and organizers, that they want Pierre to stay on,” she said.
“I honestly have not heard any rumblings about anyone wanting him removed.”
