Conservative MP officially resigns from Alberta seat so Poilievre can run in byelection
Tory leader lost Ottawa-area riding of Carleton to the Liberals’ Bruce Fanjoy during April 28 federal election
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Battle River-Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek said Tuesday he has resigned his seat so Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre can run in a historically safe Alberta riding.
Poilievre lost the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton to the Liberals’ Bruce Fanjoy during the April 28 federal election.
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Kurek had announced before officially being sworn in that he planned to resign to allow Poilievre to rejoin the House of Commons through a byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot, which Kurek won with 82.1 per cent of ballots cast in the riding.
“Today, I am resigning my seat in the House of Commons so that a byelection can be called as soon as possible to allow for our Conservative party Leader Pierre Poilievre to run in Battle River-Crowfoot and earn a seat in the House of Commons, where he will continue fighting for Canadians and holding the Liberal government to account,” Kurek said in a Tuesday statement posted on social media.
In his statement, Kurek said serving Battle River-Crowfoot constituents since 2019 has been a “tremendous honour.”
“Their support and commitment to the Conservative movement and our mission to bring back hope and prosperity to this country has been unmatched,” said Kurek, who called Poilievre “a man of principle and character” and “the hardest working MP I have ever met.”
Kurek said he plans to work with the local Conservative team in Battle River-Crowfoot to get Poilievre elected, and plans to run again in Battle River-Crowfoot in the next general election.
While Kurek has given up his House of Commons seat, he said Monday that a Conservative colleague, Saskatchewan MP Steven Bonk, has agreed to sponsor his private-member’s bill, which would recognize a national livestock brand. The bill was introduced during the last Parliament, and in the current session is known as Bill C-208.
“Recognizing this brand as a national symbol would be a permanent salute to the role Western and frontier heritage have played in shaping Canada,” Kurek said on his website.
Poilievre, who grew up in Calgary, on May 2 accepted “with humility and appreciation” Kurek’s offer to resign his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot, which includes Camrose, Drumheller, Hanna and Stettler.
“I will work to earn the trust of the good people of Battle River-Crowfoot and I will continue to hold the Liberal minority government to account until the next federal election, when we will bring real change to all Canadians,” Poilievre said on X.
Under Poilievre, the Conservatives won 144 seats in the House of Commons in April’s election but lost to Mark Carney’s Liberals, who won 169 seats and formed a minority government.
Carney has said he will call a byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot as soon as the Conservatives ask for one.
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