OTTAWA — Re-elected Conservative Andrew Scheer says the party is taking things “one step at a time” following its election loss, and expressed support for the party’s campaign manager sticking around.
“Jenni (Byrne) has a tremendous amount of support, and she did an incredible job,” he told National Post.
Scheer led the party from 2017 until 2019. He last served as the Conservatives’ house leader and has held his Regina seat since 2004, the same year Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre first entered Parliament.
Poilievre lost his Ottawa-area seat in Monday’s election and now plans to run for one in rural Alberta, following the party’s announcement that Damien Kurek, its MP-elect in Battle River-Crowfoot, would resign to allow the Conservative leader to return to Parliament.
Kurek, who was first elected in 2019, said he was resigning “temporarily” and planned to run in the safe Conservative seat in the next election.
Asked whether that means Poilievre will find a new riding for that race, Scheer referred to the statement, saying that Conservatives were taking things “one step at a time.”
“We’ll take the time to look at what happened specifically in Carleton, and along with what happened in many other areas where, with a couple of minor adjustments, we might have been able to win the seat.”
Poilievre has spent the days since Monday’s election speaking to those who were on the campaign, including candidates and MPs. He will meet his caucus for the first time next Tuesday, where it is also expected that the party will discuss who will replace Poilievre as Opposition leader in the House of Commons, with Scheer rumoured to be the favourite.
He declined to comment on the discussions, saying those matters are internal.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Conservatives will decide whether to adopt rules under the Reform Act, including one that would allow caucus to trigger a leadership vote.
Conservative MPs did so back in February 2022 after months of frustration under former party leader Erin O’Toole, which led to his ousting.
This time around, Poilievre enjoys a much higher level of support within caucus and the party more broadly.
Despite Monday’s loss, Conservatives made gains in the key battleground of Ontario, breaking through in areas like the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario. The party also reached historic heights in terms of how many votes it received, capturing 41.3 per cent of the vote, compared to the Liberals’ 43.7 per cent.
Supporters also point to how Poilievre animated many young people and workers in the trades to vote Conservative, which they traditionally have not, signalling the start of a new voter coalition for the party.
Still, the race Conservatives’ fought was much closer than the commanding lead the party enjoyed for the year-and-a-half leading to the election, which was collapsed by Canadians’ attitudes about U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and the arrival of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who replaced deeply unpopular former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
“If you had told anybody in that Conservative caucus, two-and-a-half years ago, three years ago, when Pierre took over leadership, that we’d get 42 per cent in the next election, we’d all be thrilled.”
In terms of any changes the party might make, Scheer emphasized it still remains early days.
“We’re going to go over those results, and then we’re going to figure out where we need to make adjustments,” he said.
“We just need to find what are the missing pieces that will get us the next four or five per cent to form government, but to build on this incredible base that Pierre has built.”
Some insiders and others within the party have expressed frustration over the national campaign, including decisions around nominations made in the lead up to the election. Debates also took place over how much Poilievre should focus on the carbon tax and affordability issues versus Trump’s tariffs.
Asked whether Byrne, a longtime Conservative operative who worked as the party’s national campaign director and was senior advisor to Poilievre before the election, had the support of Conservatives to remain in her role, Scheer said she has “tremendous support.”
“She led an incredible team,” he said. “She has given so much for the movement and for the party.”
Scheer said he “hopes” she sticks around. “These are early days after the election and she’s worked so hard for the party. She’s continuing to work. She’s continuing to do everything she can to help Pierre become prime minister and help the Conservatives form governments.”
Since election night, long-simmering tensions between the federal Conservatives and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have blown into open. Ontario MP-elect Jami Jivani t
that Ford inserted himself into the election through comments he made about the Conservatives’ campaign, calling him a “hype man” for the Liberals.
His comments were met with applause at the Conservatives’ election night headquarters.
Asked about Jivani’s comments, Scheer says he understands the frustration felt by Ontario MPs. It is “always disappointing” when conservatives at “any levels” are not “as helpful as they can be during elections,” he said.
“The election’s over, we’ve got some period of time before the next election starts and the sooner that conservatives can get together, dissect what happened during the campaign, what needs to be done next, the better for the entire conservative movement.”
National Post
staylor@postmedia.com
Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.
