LILLEY: Poilievre fighting ghosts as party loyalists grumble about campaign defeat

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Pierre Poilievre rode into the Calgary Stampede to cheers as he took in the parade on horseback. When he took to the stage Friday night, a young enthusiastic crowd cheered him on with a raucous reception. 

The public reception for Poilievre was very different from what Conservative supporters were willing to say privately at various Stampede events. 

There was bitterness, anger, a desire for change and outrage over how the general election campaign had gone. Rather than that anger being directed at those around Poilievre, this time it was aimed at him. 

Former political staffers, campaign volunteers, fundraisers and more were all willing to vent their spleen and express their frustration. For those asking, these were not Doug Ford conservatives who had flown in from Ottawa or Toronto for the Stampede, these were rock-ribbed conservatives upset at their party snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

The vibe was far different than just after the election, when it seemed a given that Poilievre should be granted another term. Now there was talk of replacing him, though no one could really say with whom. 

Among those who were upset but not ready to change the leader, there were plenty of comments about the need to change those around him, from campaign manager Jenni Byrne on down. Several of those calling for a change in leadership defended Byrne and said that Poilievre was the micromanager at the top who should be held to account rather than blaming Byrne. 

Frustration might be the best word to describe what I heard over the last week from Conservative voters in Calgary, Saskatoon and various small Prairie towns in Alberta and Saskatchewan. 

They wondered: How did we lose? How do we fight back against Prime Minister Mark Carney, who appears to be stealing Conservative rhetoric and talking points?  

Whether he steals and implements the actual ideas remains to be seen. 

“We are still in the awkward phase of figuring out who the real Mark Carney is,” Poilievre said Tuesday during a quick phone call. 

He’s busy working to win the byelection in Battle River–Crowfoot, a sprawling riding northeast of Calgary and southeast of Edmonton that takes in nearly 52,000 sq. km. As we talked, he was waiting for a flight to British Columbia for a quick meeting before heading back to the riding. 

Poilievre said that he is spending his days, when not campaigning, reconnecting with grassroots members of the party. To him, that means talking with local campaign managers, members of the local electoral district associations, volunteers, MPs and past candidates. 

Those are the same kinds of people who are approaching me to vent about Poilievre and the campaign in a way that wasn’t happening in the days and weeks after the election. Perhaps the change is that Canadians seem to be approving, at least so far, of the performance of Carney. 

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The latest Abacus Data polling shows approval for Carney’s government rising to 52% from a low of 21% for the Trudeau Liberals at the start of this year. 

The Conservative leader said that he will vote with the Carney minority government when it makes sense, such as building big infrastructure projects, but oppose the Liberals when they are on the wrong track. He said Carney may be saying the right words on issues like building oil pipelines, but his decades of environmental activism tell a different story. 

“I keep thinking it’s like the Eminem song: Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? Who is the real Mark Carney?” Poilievre asked. 

Carney has spoken about the need for building an oil pipeline or perhaps more than one when speaking in Western Canada, but has effectively said that Quebec would have a veto on a pipeline running West to East. One oil executive at Stampede cast doubt on whether Carney would approve a pipeline. 

“I have a caucus to manage,” the oil exec quoted Carney as saying in a recent meeting with industry types in Calgary. 

That would seem to indicate opposition to a pipeline and play to Poilievre’s point about who the real Carney is. Until we see action or inaction from the PM, he is a blank canvas that every voter can paint their vision of him upon. 

For Poilievre, that’s the equivalent of fighting ghosts. 

As long as he is fighting ghosts and not the actual record of a politician who can be beaten, the grumbling about Poilievre will continue.