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.