Conservatives seek relevance, unity in B.C. gathering ahead of Parliament's return

Conservatives seek relevance, unity in B.C. gathering ahead of Parliament's return

Poilievre bets on affordability message to regain Canadians' attention

When MPs return to Ottawa on Monday, federal Conservatives will be an Opposition in search of a foothold in a national conversation dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada, and a public seized with Prime Minister Mark Carney's dealings with the White House.

The Official Opposition leader offered a hint of what that might look like in a news conference prior to his caucus gathering in Penticton, B.C.

"The promise of Canada, that if you work hard, you get a great life, a home you can own, food you can afford, a safe street to live on — that promise is broken after 11 years of Liberal government," Pierre Poilievre said in Vancouver on Tuesday.

His message focused on affordability, a winning formula when Carney's predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was still in the Prime Minister's Office.

But pollster David Coletto says Canadians are just not willing to place the blame for sky-high prices at Carney's feet at this time.

"It's not an immediate pointing to Ottawa or to Mr. Carney. It's Donald Trump," said Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data.

Poilievre has, of late, appeared more aware of just how much attention Trump still holds over Canadians.

He recently visited New York, making appearances on both Fox Business and CNBC.

Poilievre draws line on attacking PM on ‘foreign soil’

But recognizing the challenge is one thing. Finding a solution is another.

"How do you make yourself relevant when most Canadians think the biggest threat to their lives is coming from the United States, when they overwhelmingly think the prime minister and the Liberal Party and the Liberal government right now are best able to handle it?" Coletto said.

Coletto, who closely tracked the Conservatives' previous rise in public opinion before it evaporated during the 2025 federal election campaign, said the Official Opposition is now facing its lowest polling numbers in close to a decade, with the Liberals ahead by 14 points.

"I think it's about frankly finding a way to manage the voices within your own party who don't want you to be on Team Canada, who aren't comfortable with some of the things the Liberals are doing," he said.

'Difficult' conversations welcome: Conservative MP

Just last week, commentators in the party's own orbit raised their eyebrows when one of Poillievre's MPs, Jamil Jivani, publicly espoused a decidedly non-elbows-up approach in dealing with the U.S.

"You have an immediate environment where Canadians who disagree with Liberals on policy choices are being smeared and called traitors, and you have people who should be offering an alternative to the Liberals instead going out there to appease people in positions of power," Jivani said, sitting in front of a Canadian flag in a video posted to his social media channels.

We have been here before.

Liberals again want you to believe that to be patriotic is to agree with them and their policies.

They were wrong then.

They are wrong now. pic.twitter.com/Vb28loLSRe

A former university roommate of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, Jivani compared the Liberals' approach to the trade war to what he called their largely unopposed handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he advocated for a better relationship with the Americans.

"We need you to stay strong, maintain your resolve and resist the pressure on you to feel like there's only one way to solve our country's problems," he said.

Though he fell short of mentioning Poilievre by name, the message was clear enough to Dimitri Soudas, who was former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper's spokesperson.

"Not one word criticizing Donald Trump, and not one word praising Pierre Poilievre. Sometimes what a politician chooses not to say speaks louder than anything else," Soudas posted on X.

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who sat in Harper's cabinet at the same time as Poilievre, had a similar read.

Stephen Harper says Canada had 'no choice' but to walk away from U.S. trade talks

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"[Jivani] tries to step on Pierre's tour de force trip by posting a self-indulgent video casting himself as a martyr, without a kind word to say about his leader's efforts," Kenney said on X.

But if there is a plan to deal with Jivani, Poilievre did not mention it on Tuesday.

"We welcome a diversity of voices from across the entire country," said the party's industry critic, Adam Chambers, in an interview with CBC News ahead of the caucus gathering.

"If you're not having difficult conversations as a party … then I don't think you're having the right conversation."

Coletto said that "not pulling [Jivani] back" is a way to "manage the diversity and complexity" of the Conservative coalition. But he said it also demonstrates "the dilemma I think that Mr. Poilievre finds himself in as it relates to the Trump question in Canada."

There is more adding to that complexity. Later Tuesday, Harper, who had endorsed both Poilievre's leadership campaign in 2022, and election campaign last year, was in Toronto to close off the investment summit organized by Carney.

Harper noted it "had to be a very difficult decision" for Carney to walk away from trade talks with the U.S., but said he believed there was no other choice. He also congratulated the federal government on fast-tracking major project approvals, and said he was encouraged by its steps to pursue less dependence on the U.S.

Asked if the only modern Conservative prime minister's presence at Carney's event was undermining his message, Poilievre said "it does not," and added he had spoken to his party's former leader a few days ago.

"Of course, Conservatives are always willing to put Canada first, and we will work with anybody," he said.

But as other dilemmas loom for the movement, there are questions over who will work with him.

In B.C., the provincial Conservatives have been hemorrhaging MLAs, in an echo of the string of federal MPs that left Poilievre's ranks over the last year.

And then there's the referendum in Alberta in just over a month, when voters will have to cast a ballot on whether they wish to remain a part of Canada or cast another, eventual ballot on secession.

Unlike Carney, Poilievre has already made two major speeches in Alberta pushing for unity. But, also unlike Carney, he has to think about a power base for his party in the province. According to Coletto's polling, nearly half of Conservative voters in Alberta have sympathy for the separatist argument.

"If he wants to be prime minister of Canada, he can't be seen as a separatist," Coletto said.

Poilievre's provincial counterpart, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, may have gotten an early taste of what happens when voters decide a political party is too close to the sovereignty movement — awarding a seat in a notoriously conservative-leaning Calgary riding to the Alberta NDP in a provincial byelection this week.

It was just one more test for Poilievre's coalition in a fall sitting where the agenda is already threatening to crowd his party out.

Raffy Boudjikanian is a senior reporter with the CBC's Parliamentary Bureau in Ottawa. He has also worked in Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal for the public broadcaster.