A recent poll that showed Poilievre had narrowed the gap between him and Carney - now he's only 6 points behind, instead of 9.
The thing is, this isn't going to stand up.Not after Lethbridge Liberace and all the fallout this week.
And I don't know how Poilievre can read these columns and not at least consider resigning.
First is from the Public Consent substack (also reprinted in The Walrus), where public affairs consultant Dan Robertson, a Conservative, describes the crazy last few weeks in Conservative Land and tells Poilievre to grow up:
....For those spared the spectacle, a brief summary: at the Calgary Stampede, Pierre Poilievre celebrated Kerry Lynne Findlay’s victory in the British Columbia Conservative leadership race as a win over “Liberal lobbyists from out East.”
The people he described were not Liberals. They were Kory Teneycke, Nick Kouvalis, and Anthony Koch, among the most accomplished Conservative operatives in the country. What followed were days of digital crossfire involving former Poilievre communications directors, columnists, influencers, and operatives, culminating in Brian Lilley asking in print whether the leader is serious about winning and Ben Woodfinden, who gave years to Poilievre’s office, confessing he has never been more depressed about the state of conservative politics in this country.
Everyone involved believes they are right. Some probably are. Here is the thing about being right in politics: it doesn’t matter. Winning elections is the point. Not winning the argument.
Which brings me to the onus. In any organization, responsibility for cohesion rises with rank. A volunteer can hold a grudge. A staffer can nurse a grievance. A columnist can keep score. The leader cannot. The leader of a political party cannot be one combatant among many because the leader is the only person whose job includes the coalition itself. When the leader picks a fight, it is not a fight; it is a fracture. When the leader can end a fight and declines to do so, HE is the cause of the fracture.
This is the hardest lesson in our movement’s history....
There is no version of internal conservative warfare that ends well. There are only two versions: the one where the leader stops it early, and the one where it stops him....
...Every other participant in this brawl can afford to be right. The leader can only afford to win. If mending fences with Doug Ford and his team adds a single point in Ontario, the phone call costs nothing, and pride is not a reason.
Canadian voters are watching a party that trails in the polls ripping itself apart. They will draw the obvious conclusion: a party that cannot govern itself cannot govern the country....
.jpg)
