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
Background links:
40 Conservative Could Lose – Recall Petitions- Polling –
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Ray, this is just another instalment in the Liberal attack strategy on Pierre Poilievre, carried out by the MSM, on-line by a number of pro-Liberal sites and supported by an easily-identifiable legion of Liberal trolls. The goals, seemingly achieved quite successfully, is twofold–undermine the Conservative leader and deflect attention away from numerous Liberal failures and shortcomings. It is a strategy that the Liberal War Room deployed successfully against the two previous Conservative Party leaders during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections and now honed to perfection against Poilievre. If Poilievre were replaced, the same attack strategy would be employed. Liberal control of MSM is making a mockery of freedom of the press and democracy in this country.
I think Poilievre is an excellent leader, far more tuned in to the needs of Canadians than the Liberal/Carney elites that you blindly support. Unlike Carney, Poilievre doesn’t LIE to Canadians and doesn’t duck questions. When you did into Carney’s policies, they are little changed from the policies of the past 11 years that have brought Canada to this place–rising debt, sluggish to poor growth, increased unaffordability, rising crime rates, and a general disregard for democracy.
Why is the Burlington Gazzette totally biased towards the liberal left. They’ve basically destroyed Canada over the last 10 years and yet people think this is ok and continue to vote them in? I guess common sense has gone out the window!! Elbows up fools!
I think his caucus has realized that a career politician with zero real world experience is not the type of person that today’s world needs
That apparently was not a problem when you gleefully supported Justin Trudeau for 10 years with predictable results. And as for Mark Carney, noted British financial journalist Matthew Lynn said this of Mark ‘Carnage’ Carney; “he is very good at self-promotion, collecting trophy jobs, and negotiating fabulously generous salaries and expenses for himself. He is just not very good at delivering”. Now that Carney has his majority and Trump will be rendered neutered by the US midterms, the Liberals will have no-one to blame, although “but, but Harper” is always available.
You speak to the obvious issue here, Ray. Clearly and succinctly said.
I couldn’t agree more with Ray, as long as PP is leader my vote will not go back to CPC
My only objection to this poignant piece us that it still associates the Conservative Party with the noble Tory tradition.
The Conservatives had no viable option when they reaffirmed Poilievre as leader…the floor crossers represent the 13% who did not vote for him at the Convention…they have experienced him first hand in the House of Commons…
No vision, no experience outside of politics.