Rivers: What goes around comes around

By Ray Rivers

April 10th, 2026

BYRLINGTON, ON

Mr Poilievre may have been reconfirmed as Conservative leader by over 80% of his party a few months ago, but that is not the message his MPs are hearing on the streets. So they are jumping ship to save their political lives and better serve their electors and the country.

This week a fourth Conservative came over to join the governing Liberals, in part because of the job Mark Carney is doing as PM. But they are also making a deliberate choice to leave the Tories because of their discontent with its leader, Pierre Poilievre.

It has been a deliberate choice to leave the Tories because of their discontent with their leader, Pierre Poilievre.

Hearing that as many as nine more Conservative members are contemplating switching horses, Poilievre has reacted with anger calling the loss of members a result of dirty backroom deals. He claims floor-crossing is anti-democratic – but he is wrong.

MPs are elected to represent the interests of their electors. That doesn’t change whether they call themselves Liberal or Conservative. And today’s floor-crossing MPs are clearly paying more attention to the polls than Mr. Poilievre. The Liberals are as much as 11 points ahead of the Tories when it comes to voters’ wishes. These MPs are simply going to where their constituents want them to go.

Poilievre, who has little to no experience in management, thinks he can coerce his caucus into submission. But that seems to just make them want to bolt to a winner, and for a potential role in piloting Canada through this Canada/US economic war. But Poilievre, is pretending there is no war. He is still stuck promoting the same old policies, the ones he credits with bringing down Justin Trudeau.

Poilievre, who has little to no experience in management.

Watching his MP’s in flight, Mr. Poilievre has decided to reverse years of Tory resistance to recall petitions in the ridings where his MP’s are deserting him. He is demanding that the floor-crossers be thrown out of Parliament if enough electors sign a petition against them.

But he is missing the ultimate irony – that he is living the last couple years of Justin Trudeau’s life as Liberal leader – when his caucus decided he’d passed his best before date. Its that old adage – what goes around comes around.

In the end it’s not the floor crossing MPs that are hurting the Conservative Party of Canada. It’s their unpopular leader pushing yesterday’s, and in some cases yesteryear’s, policies. If he would only leave, they wouldn’t have to. That’s what they told Trudeau.

Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers