Pierre Poilievre has chance of winning House of Commons seat after losing riding he had held for more than 20 years
Canada’s federal conservative leader will have a second chance of winning a seat in parliament when residents of a rural Alberta district cast their ballots in a closely watched byelection on Monday.
Pierre Poilievre’s bid to take the safe seat of Battle River-Crowfoot comes four months after the Conservatives’ defeat in April’s federal election, in which the party leader lost the riding he had held for more than 20 years.
It was an unexpected blow for the 45-year-old career politician who, before the election was upended by Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada, had been widely expected to become the country’s next prime minister.
Despite Poilievre’s defeat, the Conservatives did, however, win enough seats to form the largest official opposition in Canadian history at the expense of other opposition parties. But without a seat in the House of Commons, Poilievre has been unable to serve as leader of the official opposition, hampering his ability to full attack the Liberal government of prime minister Mark Carney.
