'Pressure will mount in the coming days' for Pierre Poilievre as signs of discontent emerge within the party following his RCMP claims

Speaking to reporters outside the House of Commons, Poilievre said he was certain none of his MPs would defect from his caucus by days’ end, after Radio-Canada reported that five Conservative members had concerns about his leadership of their party. 

That report followed a blistering op-ed published in the Star from a former adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper, which suggested that frustration with Poilievre’s leadership style was simmering in Conservative circles. 

Alain Rayes, a former Conservative MP who left the party’s caucus when Poilievre won the leadership in 2022, said Wednesday that he believes Poilievre’s comments were “unacceptable” for someone aspiring to lead Canada. “It’s another demonstration that (Poilievre) has no respect for institutions, and it undermines the credibility of our police force,” Rayes told the Star in French. 

The former MP also questioned why Poilievre would make those comments on a Conservative-friendly podcast when, in his view, the party needs to reach new constituencies in areas like the Greater Toronto Area to supplant the governing Liberals and take power. 

Since Poilievre’s criticism of the RCMP and his contention that unnamed people should have been jailed for Liberal scandals when Trudeau was prime minister, Rayes said multiple Conservatives — including staff and MPs — have contacted him to say they aren’t comfortable with the leader’s statements. Because of that, Rayes predicted that “pressure will mount in the coming days.” 

A veteran Conservative said Poilievre’s comments about the RCMP were a departure from the party’s core messaging this parliamentary session, and that the leader’s focus must be on the current Liberal brand instead of revolving around a preoccupation with Trudeau.

The Star granted the Conservative anonymity so they could speak freely about their concerns. 

On a taping with online media channel Northern Perspective last week, Poilievre said former prime minister Justin Trudeau broke the law by vacationing with his family at an island owned by the Aga Khan, and that he “probably violated the criminal code” during the SNC-Lavalin affair. 

The Conservative leader said “many of the scandals of the Trudeau era should have involved jail time” and that if “the RCMP had been doing its job and not covering up for (Trudeau), then he would have been criminally charged” following the Aga Khan scandal. 

That prompted Poilievre to call the leadership of the RCMP “just despicable” when it came to enforcing laws against Liberals. RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme defended the police force last week, and said he does not take “any orders” from politicians. 

(The RCMP declined to pursue an investigation into the SNC-Lavalin affair, citing insufficient evidence, in part because of its inability to access all confidential government documents. Like the Aga Khan controversy, however, Trudeau was found to have violated federal ethics law.) 

On Wednesday, Poilievre repeatedly denied he said Trudeau should have been jailed, but also ignored questions about who he was referring to when he said the scandals “should have involved jail time.” 

“That’s not what I said,” the Conservative leader said.

“I’ll tell you what I said. I was asked about the scandals of the last 10 years of the Liberal government and what would I do if such scandals and corruption were to happen when I become prime minister, and I said I would have zero tolerance for corruption. Nobody is above the law.” 

The leader’s Wednesday defence of his comments follows earlier attempts this week to provide his MPs with talking points on the matter, to clarify that he broadly supports the national police force, and that his condemnations were specifically directed at former RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki. 

Conservative MPs have faced a barrage of questions this week over whether they believe Poilievre’s comments were inappropriate.

Ontario Conservative MP Michael Barrett said his leader’s remarks “speak for themselves.”

“He offered a precision that I think was very important. I think it’s also important, the precision that he supports, that we support, and I will affirm that I support, the men and women of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,” said Barrett, on his way into his party’s Wednesday caucus meeting.

“There’s a five-alarm fire going on in this country with jobs, with inflation. Inflation (is) way over target. So that’s where we’re going (to be) talking about today,” said Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer, who served as opposition leader in the House of Commons when Poilievre was briefly without a seat this year. 

Alberta MP Greg McLean, meanwhile, said he had “a lot of friends in the RCMP” and that he respects the “work that the RCMP does, particularly in these trying times.”

Following the meeting, two MPs said there was unity among their caucus colleagues regarding Poilievre’s leadership, with Ontario MP Andrew Lawton, who penned a biography of Poilievre published last year, saying there was “absolutely” consensus on backing their leader.