# Pierre Poilievre **Pierre Poilievre** (born 1979, Calgary) has led the [[Conservative Party of Canada]] since September 2022, elected as the combative heir to the party's populist wing. A career politician who held the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton from 2004, he built a brand on attacking "gatekeepers," promising to "axe the tax" (the federal carbon levy), championing [[Cryptocurrency]], and backing the [[Freedom Convoy]]. That positioned him as the anti-establishment answer to [[Justin Trudeau]]. ## The 2025 reversal After two years of polling that pointed to a Conservative landslide, Trudeau's resignation and [[Donald Trump]]'s tariff and annexation threats reshuffled the race. The April 2025 federal election returned a [[Mark Carney]] Liberal government instead. Poilievre lost his own Carleton seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy, the first Conservative leader to lose his seat since Kim Campbell in 1993. He returned through an **August 18, 2025 by-election** in the safe Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot, vacated for him by MP Damien Kurek. ## Surviving the review At the party's national convention in Calgary, delegates kept him on with **87.4% support** in a leadership review announced on January 31, 2026. It was the biggest test of his leadership since 2022. His speech promised to fast-track Alberta premier Danielle Smith's proposed Pacific pipeline and attacked the Liberals on crime. The backdrop was less comfortable: two Conservative MPs had defected to the Liberals, leaving Carney one seat short of a majority. ## Alberta and the unity question Poilievre's base is now literally Albertan, which puts him at the center of the **October 19, 2026 Alberta referendum**. Its separation question asks whether the province should begin the constitutional process toward a binding secession vote. On May 21, 2026 he called himself "a strong Canadian federalist, a proud Albertan and a proud Canadian" and said "all Conservatives will be campaigning for Canadian unity in Alberta." He framed the job as the work of a "prime minister in waiting," and he credited [[Stephen Harper]]'s era with having no Alberta separatist movement. August polls showed Remain ahead by roughly 28 to 52 points depending on the pollster. ## Why he matters here Poilievre is the current face of the conservative lineage that runs from [[Preston Manning]]'s [[Reform Party of Canada]] through Harper. He is also the Canadian leader most often compared to American MAGA populism. Yet on Alberta he is campaigning *against* the insurgent energy that [[Western Alienation]] produced. His populist flank is contested from the right by [[Maxime Bernier]]'s [[People's Party of Canada]]. ## Related - [[Conservative Party of Canada]] · [[Reform Party of Canada]] · [[Western Alienation]] - [[Stephen Harper]] · [[Preston Manning]] · [[Mark Carney]] - [[Canada]] · [[Canadian History Hub]]