Shift Media<\/a>, told the Toronto Sun that cobbling together an extra-electoral majority has resulted in a parliamentary session where trust is optional and floor-crossing is the norm, something he said won\u2019t sit well with the Liberal caucus.<\/p>\n\u201cA slim majority will be difficult for the Prime Minister to handle and the poor vetting and tenuous loyalty suffered by Poilievre now becomes Carney\u2019s problem in a much more fragile caucus,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWhile a majority projects confidence on the surface, it\u2019s much more brittle underneath \u2014 expect Avi Lewis to enjoy wedging the Liberals in Parliament, and expect Poilievre to join in, once he\u2019s licked his wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conservatives maintain united front<\/p>\n
Indeed, rumours persist that the five Tories to cross the floor to the Liberals won\u2019t be the last \u2014 adding more fuel to the blazing bonfire of rumours that Poilievre\u2019s time as Conservative leader is numbered.<\/p>\n
To their credit, the Conservative caucus publicly maintains unwavering support for Poilievre, with MPs telling reporters outside of Wednesday\u2019s caucus meeting that they\u2019re united and strong.<\/p>\n
Party delegates gave Poilievre a strong 87% approval rating at their January convention in Calgary \u2014 an approval rating that even surpassed Stephen Harper\u2019s 84% after the 2005 election loss.<\/p>\n
As well, last year\u2019s federal election saw the Tories grow by 25 seats in the House of Commons, flip 17 ridings from the Liberals, and snagged 41.3% of the popular vote \u2014 their best outcome since the 1988 federal election, which secured Brian Mulroney his second-straight Progressive Conservative majority government.<\/p>\n
Aurora\u2014Oak Ridges\u2014Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis told reporters outside of West Block on Wednesday their meeting was a positive one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very, very positive, we\u2019re really focusing on what Canadians want us to focus on, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about,\u201d he said, adding he could \u201ccare less\u201d about what the floor-crossers are doing.<\/p>\n
Poilievre\u2019s problems aren\u2019t over<\/p>\n
Sharan Kaur, Liberal strategist and principal at Navigator, told the Sun it\u2019s notable that his high approval rating didn\u2019t carry over to high Tory voter turnout during Monday\u2019s byelections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe won by a pretty high number at his convention, and I think people were expecting that as he walked out of that, that momentum would carry on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of an alarming indicator for him as leader \u2014 what\u2019s going on in your caucus that is making someone like (Sarnia\u2014Lambton\u2014Bkejwanong MP Marilyn) Gladu leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaur said Monday\u2019s majority isn\u2019t the end of problems for Poilievre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually think he\u2019s in a lot of trouble,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s in his best interest to stay quiet for a while, because now that the Liberals have their majority, they can be their own worst enemies \u2014 when you\u2019re in a position where you have what you want it\u2019s easy to mess up, and I think that\u2019s what Poilievre is going to be waiting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Challenges are generational<\/p>\n
Alexander Brown, director of the National Citizens Coalition, said the Tories are faced with the harsh reality of years relegated to the opposition, with fears surrounding Trump and trade continuing to colour Canadian politics, and no path to electoral success in sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenges are generational \u2014 Conservatives benefited immensely from a record voter turnout, and a record turnout of young voters to their cause,\u201d he said. \u201cHow do you keep them happy and in the tent when their pocketbook issues rate differently than a Liberal support base that now trends overwhelmingly 50-plus?\u201d<\/p>\n
To move ahead, the Conservatives have to keep looking ahead, he said \u2014 adding that \u201cPresident Trump\u201d can\u2019t be a forever excuse for the Tories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solutions should be obvious: build pipelines; rebuild our immigration standard; send home those on expired and expiring \u2018temporary\u2019 status in areas we do not need; borrow from peer countries when it comes to layered, nuanced healthcare delivery; enforce, and reinforce our laws. No amount of tinkering around the margins will cut it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Carney is indeed serious about taking advantage of the next few years, he\u2019ll ditch the excuses, some of the empty Trudeau rhetoric, and actually build. With a majority mandate, mainly cobbled together with the help of a rogue\u2019s gallery of CPC backbenchers, we\u2019re far beyond time to put up or shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n
bpassifiume@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\nRECOMMENDED VIDEO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 Poilievre\u2019s problems are now Carney\u2019s problems. As the federal Liberals celebrate their defection-fuelled majority mandate after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[3893,2388,2109,125,3890,117,111,3203,1214,3889,3891,3888,3892],"class_list":["post-6646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-brian-mulroney","tag-conservative-party","tag-federal-liberals","tag-house-of-commons","tag-liberal-caucus","tag-majority-government","tag-mark-carney","tag-parliament-hill","tag-pierre-poilievre","tag-sharan-kaur","tag-slim-majority","tag-stephen-taylor","tag-toronto-sun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}