Conservative MPs defend Pierre Poilievre following byelection losses

“I will note that just yesterday, the prime minister cobbled together a costly majority that Canadians never voted for,” Poilievre said in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“He acted against the will of the public, with the help of politicians who shrugged off the decisions made by their own constituents. This is not a majority that Canadians have chosen. It is a majority that the prime minister has imposed on Canadians through a series of backroom deals.”

Poilievre said “Canadians deserve us to fight for them” and said it would be him — and no one else — to lead the Conservatives into the next federal campaign.

The Conservative leader also thanked the trio of candidates who ran under his banner in the byelections, despite the Tories’ vote share dropping in all three races compared to their showing in 2025. The party’s share of the vote fell by nearly half in University—Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest, and even more sharply in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne. The Tories were not expected to perform well in any of the contests; the Toronto ridings are Liberal strongholds, while Terrebonne is closely contested between the Bloc Québécois and the Grits.

Former Conservative MP Damien Kurek pushed back against any suggestions Tuesday that the results were indicative of voters turning away from the Tories.

“For commentators who read into the vote count of other parties in safe seats, if you didn’t comment on the Liberal vote collapse in the Battle River—Crowfoot byelection last summer, then I would suggest you consider your bias,” Kurek wrote in a post on X, noting that the Liberals lost a significant share of their vote in the rural Alberta riding when compared to the results the party posted in last spring’s general campaign. 

That byelection was triggered after Kurek vacated the seat he had won last April to give Poilievre a path back to the House of Commons, after the Conservative leader lost his own Ottawa-area seat. 

Despite Poilievre’s framing that Carney’s majority was achieved through “backroom deals,” Ontario Conservative MP Ben Lobb said that while the shock crossing of former Tory MP Marilyn Gladu to the government benches last week appeared to be conveniently timed, it was technically the byelections that cemented Carney’s majority victory.

Lobb said Canadians have “real concerns” about majorities that aren’t secured through federal elections, but acknowledged that while he doesn’t agree with the practice, “we’ve had floor crossings ever since we’ve been born.” 

Poilievre and his 140 MPs will gather on Parliament Hill Wednesday for the Conservatives’ caucus meeting, the first gathering since Gladu’s crossing.

The Star has reported that Poilievre is not expecting to face demands in that meeting for him to step down in the wake of the defections and other caucus frustrations, following reports that up to 40 of his MPs feared for their political futures if Poilievre were to remain leader.

While some Conservative MPs evaded questions from reporters on Tuesday about their support for their leader, a number effusively backed him, including Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis, who lost that riding in 2015 and secured his political comeback last year under Poilievre’s leadership. 

“He’s awesome, he’s fantastic, he’s well-informed. He has the experience, he’s on top of the issues. He cares about Canadians and he’s saying all the right things that Canadians need to hear,” Menegakis told reporters, rejecting any assertions that there are questions swirling around Poilievre’s future at the Conservative helm.

“Caucus is very happy, nobody has told me they’re not,” said Menegakis, who also rebuffed the Conservatives’ slide in the polls.

“The real poll that counts is election day. You’ll see on election day a different result,” Menegakis said. “I was supposed to lose by two percentage points in my riding, I won by 12. That’s a 14-point swing. I will leave you with that.”