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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday he is not reflecting on his leadership style after two MPs announced they were leaving his caucus — including one who cited the leader’s “negative” approach to politics as the reason why he’s calling it quits on the party.
Speaking to reporters in Calgary at his first news conference since the departures last week, Poilievre four times quoted back a past anti-Liberal statement from Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont, who crossed the floor to the Liberals, when asked about trouble in the Conservative caucus.
One reporter asked Poilievre if those two departures say anything about his leadership or if they have prompted him to reflect on his leadership style. Poilievre’s answer was “no.”
“My plan is to continue to lead and be the only leader that’s fighting for an affordable Canada where our people who work hard can afford a home and food. That is my agenda,” he said.
Asked to respond to accusations from d’Entremont that the party is run like “a frat house” rather than “a serious political party,” Poilievre referred to that MP’s statement in the House of Commons about Liberal food inflation.
WATCH | Polievre defends his leadership:
Poilievre says he’s not reflecting on leadership style after losing 2 MPs
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre addressed the departure of two Conservative MPs for the first time at a news conference, saying he’s not changing his approach after floor-crossing MP Chris d’Entremont cited his leadership style as the reason he defected to the Liberals.
In an interview with CBC News on Sunday, d’Entremont accused two senior Conservatives of barging into his office, yelling at him and calling him “a snake” when they first found out he was considering a switch to the Liberals — behaviour he said “sealed the deal” on his decision to leave the party.
The MPs in question, Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and the party’s whip, Chris Warkentin, have conceded d’Entremont was called “a snake” at one point during their conversation but said they entered his office “calmly” and spoke in a “measured voice.”
A spokesperson for Poilievre said d’Entremont is a “liar” who will fit in well with what they called other lying Liberals.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, walks with Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to join the Liberals, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Nov. 5. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Poilievre said that as recently as September, d’Entremont was lamenting in the House of Commons that “the cost of living has skyrocketed” over the last six years of Liberal rule.
In a Sept. 25 statement, d’Entremont said food price inflation has been “inhumane” and called for the repeal of the government’s industrial carbon tax. “It is not just policy, it is survival. We need affordable food,” he said, while calling for the tax to be lifted on fertilizer and farm equipment in particular.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a news conference at a hotel in Calgary on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (Joshua McLean/CBC News)
While Prime Minister Mark Carney has vowed to keep that tax after repealing the consumer carbon levy, d’Entremont joined the party anyway.
Asked to comment on Poilievre’s line of attack, d’Entremont wrote to CBC News: “They [the Conservatives] are spinning. I’ve said what I needed to. He continues to prove my point!”
Two days after d’Entremont’s defection, Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux, who was also rumoured to be considering crossing the floor, announced he is quitting politics altogether sometime in the new year.
Those departures, which sources say caused panic in the Conservative Party, have given the minority Liberal government more breathing room to get its agenda through Parliament. It also brings the Liberals closer to a majority of seats in the House of Commons.
In one testy exchange with a reporter, Poilievre said the media should give more coverage to Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s critical comments about some aspects of the government’s recent budget.
WATCH | Poilievre takes questions for first time following caucus departures :
Poilievre takes questions for first time following multiple caucus departures
Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to reporters for the first time since two MPs announced their departures last week following the tabling of budget 2025.
“Expectations were set at a level we failed to meet,” Erskine-Smith said in a social media video while lamenting that there wasn’t enough money dedicated to climate action and housing in last week’s document. “It falls well short of the wartime effort that many of us thought we’d deliver.”
“I know there will be wall-to-wall coverage of this turmoil,” Poilievre said sarcastically.
