Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre delivered a speech on Friday that called for Canadians to stay united in the face of an uncertain world, amid growing separatist sentiments in Alberta and Quebec.
A house divided cannot stand, Poilievre said in Calgary, ahead of a consequential vote where party members will decide whether he should stay on as leader.
A leadership vote is automatically triggered by the party after an election loss — in this case Poilievre's defeat to Mark Carney's Liberals last April, where he also lost his own seat.
Despite the political setbacks, some delegates told the BBC that they still have confidence in Poilievre to lead them into the next election. In a nearly hour-long speech that doubled as a pitch to Conservative voters at the party's convention in Calgary, Alberta, Poilievre outlined his vision for Canada's future should his party form the next government.
He focused much of his messaging on affordability and crime — issues that have long resonated with his base — and promised a small government that will represent people who have felt unseen for too long.
His speech was made amid a backdrop of a growing grassroots separatist movement in the Conservative stronghold of Alberta, where a process of collecting signatures to trigger an independence referendum is underway. In Quebec, the sovereignist Parti Québécois is also polling ahead, promising their own independence referendum in Quebec should they get elected as the provincial government later this year.
Party members who spoke to the BBC said the speech was well received, praising it for sticking to traditional Conservative messaging while also confronting separatism — what one member called the elephant in the room.
Polls indicate his party is trailing, with a recent Léger poll showing the Conservatives nine points behind the Liberals. Friday's leadership review vote is a key moment for both Poilievre's and the party's future. It is the party's first leadership review since 2004, when former prime minister Stephen Harper won 84% of the vote. The vote will take place shortly after Poilievre's speech.
