When asked by reporters Friday if he was worried about a challenge to his leadership, Pierre Poilievre said 'no.'Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The Conservative party’s national council is expected to meet mid-June to determine when leader Pierre Poilievre will face a leadership review, but there’s still no sign of an overarching review of the party’s failure to defeat the Liberals on April 28.
The election returned a Liberal minority government, and while some Conservatives privately say Prime Minister Mark Carney could govern for as long as four years, others say work on fixing their failure to defeat him must start now.
Two Conservative sources told The Globe and Mail the party’s executive director is proposing national council sign off on a March leadership review, which would give party members the chance to vote on whether Mr. Poilievre should remain as leader.
The Globe is not identifying the sources as they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal party matters.
But, Calgary MP Greg McLean, recently appointed to lead an economic growth council advising Mr. Poilievre, told the Globe he’s been instructed to be ready to present his findings at a January convention.
The party did not return a request for comment.
Since the formation of the modern Conservative Party, one other leader has faced a leadership review: Stephen Harper. He lost the 2004 election, held shortly after he became leader. In the review, members voted overwhelmingly to let him stay, and he went on to win three elections.
Neither of Mr. Harper’s successors – Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole – made it to a leadership review. Mr. Scheer stepped down, and Mr. O’Toole was forced out by MPs.
When asked by reporters Friday if he was worried about a challenge to his leadership, Mr. Poilievre said “no.”
“We had the biggest vote count in our party’s history, the biggest increase in our party’s history, the biggest vote share since 1988 and we’re going to continue to work to get over the finish line,” he said.
Mr. Harper, Mr. Scheer and Mr. O’Toole all commissioned reviews of their election defeats.
MPs and grassroots party members insist one needs to be done now too.
One effort by MPs to get a former colleague to do a probe fell flat. Some rank-and-file party members are considering organizing to force a public discussion of what they see as the campaign’s failings if public steps to address and correct them aren’t taken soon.
Specific frustrations include the target seat program, bottlenecks around decision making, outdated campaign literature and top-down control over what local candidates could do.
But the biggest anger is around nominations, and people blocked from running at the last minute in favour of hand-picked candidates.
Riding and campaign managers in Ontario and British Columbia told the Globe that national campaign manager Jenni Byrne must address those shortcomings, and step back from future campaigns, or they will try to band together to oust her.
Opinion: The good and unnecessarily bad of Pierre Poilievre
The Globe is not naming the sources so they could speak candidly about internal party affairs.
The last Conservative convention was in 2023, so one was expected soon anyway. National council can call a convention with 90 days notice, which could also neutralize grassroots efforts to force changes as there wouldn’t be enough time to engage formal policy or constitutional processes.
Though Conservatives did win more seats, Mr. Poilievre lost his own. He’s planning to run in a by-election for an Alberta riding. Those close to him say few major changes will be made to anything the party does until that election ends.
Still, there are smaller steps being taken. Long-time Conservative communications professional Katy Merrifield will soon join the staff. Jeff Ballingall, a conservative strategist, is also being brought on to help with Mr. Poilievre’s image and message.
Mr. McLean, the MP leading Mr. Poilievre’s economic council, said his group is working to keeping policy going in the right direction.
“What Canadians saw at the end of the day was the Liberals embracing Conservative policy positions,” he said.
“Part of what we’re doing with this exercise is [ensuring] we do have the ability to continue that kind of process: ‘Here are the Conservative policies, Mark Carney et al, can you please follow these policies? They’re better for the country than what you’ve been putting forward so far.’”