Pierre Poilievre’s Toughest Audience Yet: His Own Party
After losing the 2025 election and his seat, the conservative leader needs to convince his base he’s still the one to take on Mark Carney
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will return to the House of Commons this fall after securing a seat in rural Alberta over the summer. Poilievre handily won the August 18 Battle River—Crowfoot by-election with a little over 80 percent of the vote, in line with past Conservative performances in the riding.
The by-election, however, was only the first—and easiest—step on Poilievre’s long road to political recovery. Pre-election polls last winter showed that while he remained a polarizing figure in Canadian politics, he nevertheless enjoyed overwhelming backing from Conservative voters. But after losing the 2025 general election to Mark Carney’s Liberals—along with his own long-held seat in Carleton—Poilievre may now face his harshest critics from his own side of the aisle, and from what once seemed like an unshakable base.