Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a newly released video that he’ll learn from the election loss and make it his mission to grow the party.
The video, released on social media on May 5, shows Poilievre and his wife, Anaida, walking on a path in a field in Alberta. The Tory leader, who lost his seat in the election, has been visiting the area of the Battle River—Crowfoot riding where he plans to run in a byelection after Tory MP Damien Kurek officially steps down.
Poilievre said he has a lot to be thankful for in the election, such as the large crowds attending his rallies, the 2.3 million extra votes compared to the 2021 election, and the 25 extra seats won by his party that came from breakthroughs in Ontario and British Columbia.
“Now, it wasn’t enough. We didn’t get over the finish line, which means that I need to learn and grow, and our team needs to expand,” Poilievre said in the video.
On May 6, while attending a caucus meeting in Ottawa, Poilievre was asked by reporters what he has learned from the election and how he can grow.
“I think we all learned that the map has changed dramatically,” said Poilievre.
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“If you told me that, one, that we would get 41 percent of the vote a couple years ago, I would have said, ‘Wow, that’s ambitious.’ But if you told me that we would get 41 percent of the vote and still not win, I would have said ‘You’re crazy.’”
The Tory leader said Canada’s electoral map is looking increasingly like a two-party map. The Conservatives and the Liberals grew their seat count while the NDP and the Bloc Québécois saw theirs decrease.
The Conservative caucus was meeting to assess the election results, determine who will serve as interim leader in the House of Commons since Poilievre doesn’t have a seat, and decide whether to trigger a leadership review.
Tory MPs who spoke to media on their way to the meeting expressed their support for Poilievre.
This included Andrew Scheer, who has publicly backed Poilievre. Scheer said he is “incredibly optimistic” by how the party fared in the election.
“If you look at the new people that Pierre Poilievre has attracted into the Conservative movement—some people who not only say they’ve never voted Conservative before, but never voted—and so we’re incredibly encouraged by that,” said Scheer.
Later in the day, the Tory caucus chose Scheer to serve as interim Opposition leader in the House of Commons. The Saskatchewan MP served as Opposition House leader in the previous Parliament and also as Conservative leader for the 2019 election.
The party caucus also voted to adopt the Reform Act, in order to be able to trigger a leadership review, but so far Poilievre’s role as leader hasn’t been openly challenged.
