What to know
- Marilyn Gladu became the fifth MP in six months to cross the floor, leaving the Liberals one seat short of a majority and sparking political backlash.
- Pierre Poilievre accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of making “backroom deals,” while insisting he won’t step down despite mounting pressure.
- Experts say Poilievre is unlikely to resign, but internal party dissatisfaction could still trigger a leadership review as some Canadians question his direction.
One more Conservative MP has now crossed the floor, but Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seems to have no intention of stepping down just yet.
Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong’s representative Marilyn Gladu sparked mixed reactions on Wednesday, after she became the fifth MP to cross the floor in six months, leaving the Liberals just one seat short of a majority government.
Gladu was first elected for the role in 2015, and had been affiliated with the Conservatives since then.
But in a statement to her constituents, the MP said she had decided to cross the floor after constituents told her they “want serious leadership and a real plan to build a stronger and more independent Canadian economy,” and that she believes she is doing the right thing for the country.
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The crossing sparked curious reactions from other political leaders, who are raising questions about Gladu’s decision to join the Liberals, especially after being affiliated with the Conservatives for 10 years.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Carney of doing “backroom deals” with MPs to convince them to cross the floor, calling out Gladu for previously defending that representatives that wished to cross the floor should face by-elections.
Poilievre doubled down on the accusations while speaking with reporters on Thursday, where he once more suggested Carney was doing “backroom deals” to “pursue a Liberal agenda.”
“Mark Carney is saying to Canadians, ‘Your vote does not count.’ He will overpower the decision that you made through dirty backroom deals that gives him unrestrained power to raise your taxes and increase your costs to pursue a Liberal agenda that is the opposite of what he promised,” he said.
In addition, the Conservative leader criticized Gladu for previously saying all floor crossers should face a by-election before being allowed to do so, but still choosing to join the Liberals.
“I feel badly for Ms. Gladu’s constituents. The strong majority of them voted for our Conservative vision of an affordable and safe Canada. In fact, if I can be blunt, under my leadership, she had a massive increase in the Conservative vote in her riding, and she said that she was going to stand up for the conservative values of affordability and safety. Now, she has joined the most costly Liberal government in Canadian history,” Poilievre added.
Brampton West MP Amarjeet Gill who earlier this year said he refused an offer from the Liberals to cross the floor, also called out Gladu for her decision.
On Wednesday, Gill replied to an X post from January in which Gladu applauded him for refusing the offer.
“Interesting to look back at past comments. Some people thanked those who stayed true to voters — yet chose a different path themselves,” he said.
Before Gladu, four other MPs have crossed the floor, being three of them former Conservatives, and one former NDP, including:
- Former Conservative Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont on Nov. 4, who said he was better aligned with Carney’s vision;
- Former Conservative Markham MP Michael Ma on Dec. 11, who said the prime minister offers “the steady, practical approach we need to deliver on the priorities I hear every day while door knocking;”
- Former Conservative Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux on Feb. 18, who said he made the decision after speaking with his family and watching Carney’s Davos speech earlier this year;
- Former NDP Nunavut MP Lori Idlout on March 11, who said constituents “need a strong and ambitious government that makes decisions with Nunavut.”
What does this mean for Pierre Poilievre’s leadership ?
Last year, Poilievre lost the seat he held for nearly 20 years in Carleton to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy, who managed to get 50.6 per cent of the votes in the riding.
Despite the shakeup, at the time, Poilievre did not reveal intentions to step down from leadership. Instead, MP-elect Damien Kurek resigned from his Battle River-Crowfoot riding in Alberta to allow for the party leader to run for by-election.
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Earlier this year, Poilievre also went through a leadership review, which he passed with 87.4 per cent of support from his party members.
During a news conference on Thursday, Poilievre suggested he is not planning to step down from the Conservative leadership despite the multiple crossings, emphasizing that the party got eight million votes in the elections last year, and pointing to the results of his leadership review.
“My mandate to lead this fight for affordability and safety comes from those record 8.2 million votes that we received and from the record support that my party membership gave at our convention, 87 per cent only three months ago. And my mission will be to continue to lead that fight into the next election to restore a promise of an affordable and safe Canada for all,” he said.
Elizabeth McCallion, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, who researches Canadian politics with a focus on parliament said she believes Poilievre will in fact not resign, despite several Conservative MPs having crossed the floor.
“He lost his own seat in the federal election and wouldn’t resign as leader. So I really don’t see [him resigning] from a personality standpoint,” she told Now Toronto.
However, that doesn’t mean that he is completely safe from leaving the leadership role.
Despite Poilievre having received approval during the last review in January, Canada’s Reform Act grants members the power to trigger another leadership review, if they submit a written notice signed by at least 20 per cent of the caucus.
If another review is triggered, members then have the chance to vote to replace the leader through a secret ballot.
McCallion says that according to media reports and statements from the MPs that have crossed, some might not be approving of Poilievre’s leadership style. Hence, if enough MPs are not content with his lead, they could trigger another review.
“Even though Poilievre just won a pretty decisive victory at the convention in January to show that he does have the approval of conservative party delegates… The public membership or the caucus members themselves may feel differently, and may be looking to remove him rather than haemorrhaging more MPs to the liberals,” she said. “So, I think the bigger concern for him right now is being ousted by other members of his own party.”
Torontonians react
Now Toronto took to the streets to hear from Canadians what they think the multiple crossings mean for Poilievre’s leadership.
Torontonian Jeff Plowman said he believes Poilievre hasn’t been able to “differentiate himself” as a leader in the last year, especially when it comes to policies related to tariffs imposed by the U.S. President Donald Trump.
“It becomes clear that he hasn’t differentiated himself on the things that are important to Canadians. Before the Trump tariffs and all that stuff, and when Trudeau was in, it was easy to be different. But now, I think because Mark Carney is so experienced in terms of business and finance and apparently has become politically very savvy as well, he’s taken a higher ground. So, Poilievre is sort of left in his dust,” he said.
Another resident, Ali P., said he used to live in the Carleton riding in Ottawa, where Poilievre held a seat for almost 20 years.
Although the resident believes Conservative Leader used to do a good job representing constituents, he hasn’t been “impressed” with his actions lately.
“He’s a super nice guy. He actually helped us with a problem that we had. But I haven’t been really impressed with his leadership in the last few years,” he said.
“He came across as more opposing everything, rather than pushing the Conservative agenda. So, it was more like [he was saying that] everything Liberals are doing is wrong, but he wasn’t saying how he’s going to be doing it differently.”
In his opinion, if the Liberals do get a majority government after the by-elections on Monday, Poilievre should resign as leader.
“He’s a lovely guy, but I think the Conservatives need a fresh face. Maybe he was a good choice back when Trudeau was the Prime Minister. But now that Carney is the prime minister, I think we need someone different in the Conservative Party.”
Meanwhile, another resident, Phani M., said he believes that more important than focusing on leadership, politicians should be focused on what they are doing for constituents.
“What does it mean to be a leader? One could be leader yesterday, someone could replace him today, somebody else [on the] third day. But what does it mean to the constituency that he’s representing?” he said.
