After losing the seat he’d held for more than 20 years in this week’s federal election, Pierre Poilievre’s political future was clouded. An Alberta MP-elect, Damien Kurek has volunteered to resign so that Poilievre can run in his riding.
Seatless Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will run in an Alberta byelection as Conservative MP Damien Kurek “temporarily” steps aside.
In a press release, Kurek, the Battle River—Crowfoot MP-elect, said he was relinquishing his seat for Poilievre because it’s “what’s best for Canada” and the riding. Kurek was first elected in the Alberta riding in 2019.
Poilievre lost his Ottawa-area seat to a Liberal challenger by more than 4,000 votes in Monday’s election.
“The people of Battle River—Crowfoot will be represented well by Pierre for the remainder of this Parliamentary session, and I will keep working with our incredible local team to do everything I can to remain the strong voice for you as I support him in the process, and then run again here in Battle River—Crowfoot in the next general election,” Kurek said in a statement.
At a press conference in Ottawa on Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would call a byelection as soon as possible and that the government would play “no games” with Poilievre’s quest to win a seat.
Apparently, Carney is going with the less-unfriendly path rather than delaying the call for a byelection for the full allowable period (as Justin Trudeau certainly would have done).
During the redistribution and redistricting Polliever’s riding was changed. Much of the old Kanata-Carlton riding was added into the new Carlton riding, while other bits were adjusted. Kanata-Carlton was a Liberal riding in the 2021 election with the Conservative candidate winning 39% of the vote. So roughly 60% of that riding voted something other than CPC.
Not saying that the “independent” election committee had a hand in the defeat, but changing district boundaries changed the dynamic of the riding. Would have been a good idea to look into that, if I was a Conservative.
Comment by Dwayne — May 4, 2025 @ 12:28
It’s not as if the boundaries were a huge secret to Poilievre’s constituency association or the federal party. The breakdown of the past voting patterns should have been communicated clearly to the leader and appropriate resources allocated … before the last week of the election. Poilievre is not the first or the last federal leader to be defeated in his own riding, so the embarrassment should be temporary and not career-fatal.
Comment by Nicholas — May 4, 2025 @ 20:45