Andrew Scheer interim Opposition leader, waiting for Pierre Poilievre

by Marzio Pelù

OTTAWA – The Conservative caucus has chosen Andrew Scheer to lead the party in Parliament during the spring session. The Saskatchewan MP and former party leader will be the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons when the session begins on May 26: a necessary step since the party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre, no longer holds a seat in the House of Commons, having lost the Ontario riding of Carleton in last week’s election after representing the district for more than two decades.

The party needed an interim leader until Poilievre returns to Parliament: the leader in fact will now seek to regain a seat in a byelection in the Alberta riding of Battle River – Crowfoot, where MP-elect Damien Kurek has offered to resign so his leader can run again.

The decision to name Scheer as interim leader came after a long day of debate within the conservative caucus. At the meeting, the 143 Conservatives elected in the April 28 federal election discussed adopting the Reform Act, which allows members of the same caucus to call for a secret ballot to review the party’s leadership. It’s the same mechanism used to oust former leader Erin O’Toole after the party failed to beat Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2021. Conservative sources confirmed to the CBC that the caucus passed the Reform Act by a wide margin, but that the Conservatives expect Poilievre to remain.

As for the “half-leader”, in a video (here below) posted to social media on Monday, where he is seen walking with his wife on a country road, he pledged to “learn and grow,” and said his team needs to expand.

Then, speaking to reporters on his way to the first caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, Poilievre announced that the Conservatives will spend the summer “listening carefully to people” and he said that the party has much to be proud of in its election results, but cited the two-party race as one reason the Liberals won. “If you had told me we were going to get 41% of the vote a couple of years ago, I would have said, ‘Wow, that’s ambitious!'” he said. “But if you had told me we were going to get 41% of the vote and still not win, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy!’…”.

Finally, the fate of Jenni Byrne, the party’s campaign manager, is not yet known. She faced criticism from both inside and outside the Conservative movement during the campaign as the party’s lead in the polls evaporated. “She’s worked hard, our team has a lot to be proud of,” Poilievre said.

Pictured above is Andrew Scheer at the House of Commons (photo: Twitter X – @AndrewScheer)