Based on coverage from CBC, The Globe and Mail, and Toronto Star.
Pierre Poilievre is telling Conservatives he is staying put, staying combative, and staying himself, even after a rough stretch that ended with Prime Minister Mark Carney securing a majority government with help from four Conservative MPs who crossed the floor.
Speaking Thursday in Ottawa at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference, Poilievre framed the moment as a choice: sharpen the fight with Liberals, or water down Conservatism to please what he called “the club of liberal elites that dominate this town.” His answer was clear. He said he will not change his style or message, arguing that doing so would abandon the “record-smashing 8.3 million Canadians” who voted Conservative.
Poilievre defends leadership at Ottawa conference
Poilievre leaned hard into the “fighter” label. “Some people have accused me of being a fighter, but that’s because some things are actually worth fighting for,” he said, drawing applause.
Several outlets described the room differently: one account called the crowd “relatively subdued,” while another said Poilievre addressed a “packed room” of ideological faithful. Either way, the event itself was unmistakably a conservative gathering, with booths and panels touching on themes like free speech, opposition to abortion and medical assistance in dying, and a strong pro-fossil-fuel message.
The conference, formerly known as the Manning Conference, has long served as a networking and organizing hub for federal Conservatives and conservative activists.
Conservative polling shows signs of slippage
Poilievre’s push to rally supporters comes as some data suggests erosion inside his own tent.
An Angus Reid Institute poll cited in the reporting found 57 per cent of past Conservative voters now think Poilievre should lead the party into the next federal election, down from 68 per cent last August. The share who think he should be replaced rose to 30 per cent, up from about 18 per cent.
The same poll suggests Poilievre’s favourability among past Conservative voters has dipped too, from 88 per cent last summer to about 75 per cent. That’s still strong, but the direction is what matters for a leader trying to keep caucus and grassroots aligned.
CBC has also reported caucus anxiety hasn’t turned into an organized effort to remove him using the Reform Act.
Mark Carney majority and floor-crossings fuel pressure
The immediate backdrop is the political damage from four Conservative MPs moving to the Liberals, defections that helped Carney claim a majority. Those MPs, according to one report, praised Carney’s economic growth vision as Canada deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
Poilievre did not dwell on the floor-crossings in his speech, but the reality is hanging over everything: Conservatives are staring at years on the Opposition benches, and Carney is polling well, including among some past Conservative voters. Poilievre’s strategy, as described across the coverage, is to go after Carney’s personal brand and puncture the idea that he’s a moderate “Liberal with Conservative instincts.”
Poilievre targets energy projects and affordability
Poilievre argued Carney pitched himself as turning the page on the Trudeau era, but that “little has changed,” pointing to ongoing deficits, affordability pressure, and no Canada-U.S. tariff deal. He also took aim at environmental policies and constraints on development, naming Bill C-69 and the B.C. tanker ban.
Energy and major project approvals sat near the centre of his argument. He wants the Liberals pushed to fast-track oil and gas projects, especially with global turmoil shaking energy markets.
The Carney government, for its part, has created a Major Projects Office to speed approvals for energy and natural resource projects by bypassing laws that slowed some development under Trudeau. Ottawa is also considering legislative changes. The spring economic update promised measures to get federal decisions on major projects within two years, down from a five-year target. Reporting also notes Ottawa has approved the Sunrise Expansion pipeline project, while an Alberta submission for a pipeline to the Pacific is still pending with the new office.
Fact-check friction and the China angle
Poilievre mixed policy critique with sharp personal barbs, calling Carney “not quite as nauseating” as Trudeau, and in other recent attacks describing him as “badly educated” on economics and a “catastrophic failure” on the Canada-U.S. file.
One report also flagged a false claim from Poilievre: he said the consumer carbon price the Liberals cancelled last year was rebranded as the clean fuel standard. The reporting states those are separate policies and the clean fuel standard existed independently.
Poilievre also drew a line on global trade direction, arguing Canada should reject the idea of a “permanent rupture” with the U.S. in favour of a “new world order” that includes closer trade with China. Reporting notes Carney travelled to Beijing earlier this year, spoke of a “new world order,” and struck a deal involving tariff relief on Canadian canola and other goods, alongside expanded access for thousands of Chinese electric vehicles in Canada.
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