LILLEY: Poilievre's pain not over as Carney Liberals pursue more Conservative MPs
· Toronto Sun
As Mark Carney and his Liberal government celebrate officially achieving majority status in the House of Commons, the Conservatives are nursing the political equivalent of a hangover.
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Carney’s Liberals have their majority of 174 seats in large part because four Conservative MPs defected from Pierre Poilievre’s party to Carney’s.
The problem for Poilievre and the Conservatives is the torturous ordeal of watching their caucus members cross the floor may not be over. There are offers on the table ranging from committee appointments to hints of a cabinet post and even an offer of a judicial appointment.
The Liberals aren’t shy about it and say they expect that several more Conservative MPs will trade in their blue ties for red ones.
“It’s not so much fishing as holding the door open,” said one Liberal MP familiar with what is going on.
MPs now unburdened after byelections
The Liberals believe that there are Conservatives who want to cross the floor but haven’t done so because they didn’t want to be seen as the one giving Carney the majority. With the three byelections over, and all three going Liberal, anyone concerned about that appearance can now walk freely across the floor.
“You want to run a story on floor crossing?” Conservative MP Billy Morin said to reporters ahead of a news conference on Monday.
“They’re trying to poach me.”
Morin, the MP for Edmonton Northwest and former chief of Enoch Cree Nation, was approached by Mandy Gull-Masty, Mark Carney’s minister of Indigenous Services. She texted Morin recently asking him about the possibility of him joining the Liberals.
“Wondering if u ever had any reflections on what it would mean or wish to explore the dark side … We do want to grow out caucus to 7 preferably 8,” she said via text.
Morin put out a statement to Global News on Monday denouncing the Liberal approach to trying to get a majority.
“This shameless power grab in the face of democracy by the Liberals would attempt to make me just another number in their caucus,” he said, adding that he is fully supportive of the Conservative Party.
The pattern of poaching
The Conservatives, for their part, know this is happening and have even noticed a pattern.
One of their MPs will run into a Liberal MP or party organizer they know, often from close to home. At first there is flattery, claims that they know their files so well, that they would do so much better with the Liberals, and the idea that something is on offer – like a cabinet appointment — is dangled.
If the Conservative MP gives off the right signals that they might be interested, they suddenly have a chance encounter with Carney, who gives the Conservative MP his personal cell number and says he’d like to connect.
Matt Jeneroux was made a special advisor on economic and security partnerships, Marilyn Gladu apparently believes she’ll be in cabinet – good luck with that, and at least one Conservative MP was approached about taking a judicial appointment to consider vacating his seat and prompting a byelection.
More defections mean trouble
Poilievre has survived an election loss last year, he has survived losing his own seat, and so far he has survived losing four MPs and watching his polling numbers drop over the past several months. There is no way that he can continue on as leader if several more Conservative MPs decide to pack their bags and head on over to the Liberal side.
Right now, Poilievre benefits from the fact that no one is organizing to challenge him for the leadership. That may not be the case come the summer if more MPs defect.
The idea that more may cross isn’t just Liberal spin — the Conservatives are aware that approaches are being made. Either Poilievre gets a handle on this, or he will be on his way out the door by Labour Day.