Gains for Conservatives ‘something to celebrate,’ Poilievre says in concession speech

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre struck a conciliatory tone early Tuesday morning as he congratulated Prime Minister Mark Carney on forming government.

Poilievre vowed to stay on as official Opposition leader even though he still didn’t know the outcome in his own riding of Carleton. As of 3 a.m. EDT, he was trailing Liberal Bruce Fanjoy by several thousand votes, though ballots were still being counted.

Some of his supporters hugged one another and cried as Poilievre delivered his concession speech at the party’s election night headquarters in downtown Ottawa, with his wife Anaida by his side.

“Canadians have opted for a razor-thin minority government, a virtual tie in the vote count, so I would like to congratulate Prime Minister Carney on leading this minority government,” Poilievre said.

When the crowd responded to that statement with boos, Poilievre held up a hand to stop them.

“Yes, we will do our job to hold the government to account, but first, we congratulate people from all political backgrounds on participating in the democratic process,” he said.

While the election loss is the culmination of a stunning turn of events for the Conservatives — who just three months ago appeared poised to win a significant majority — Poilievre told his supporters the results offer cause for optimism.

The party improved on the 119 seats it won in the 2021 election and saw its best performance in the popular vote since Brian Mulroney led the Conservatives to a 43 per cent vote share in 1988.

“We are cognizant of the fact that we didn’t quite get over the finish line yet. We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by,” Poilievre told the crowd.

“It takes time. It takes work, and that’s why we have to learn the lessons of tonight so that we can have an even better result the next time Canadians decide the future.”

He also pledged that Conservatives “will work with the prime minister and all parties with the common goal of defending Canada’s interests” in the face of what he called irresponsible threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Poilievre’s party outperformed the polls in Atlantic Canada, made gains in B.C. as the NDP support collapsed, and took multiple seats from the Liberals in Ontario, including in Kitchener, Brampton, York and Windsor.

But they couldn’t win over enough voters in Quebec, where the Liberals picked up support from the Bloc Québécois.

“Quebec ultimately saved Mark Carney,” said Dimitris Soudas, a former spokesman for Stephen Harper.

Soudas said the overall results were totally unexpected and called Poilievre “the big winner,” despite his failure to form government.

He also called on the Conservative leader to take some personal lessons from the loss. Poilievre proved to be a divisive figure — able to galvanize support from an enthusiastic and expanded base of voters but consistently earning negative approval ratings in the polls.

Soudas said Canadians “want to respect their prime minister, but they also want to like their prime minister.”

“And at times Mr. Poilievre went out of his way, in my humble opinion, to not be liked, sometimes being too abrasive,” he said.

Amanda Galbraith, a partner at Oyster Group and a former adviser to Harper, said there will be big conversations within the party about Poilievre’s leadership.

Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole were each removed as leader after losing once to the Liberals.

“I think for the health of the party, it’s good to have two (kicks at the can), but Conservatives are particularly aggressive when it comes to removing leaders they don’t feel can bring them forward,” she said.

The results of the election reflect some deep divisions within Canada, and among Conservative voters themselves.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s former campaign manager Kory Teneycke made headlines when he told media that Poilievre’s team had committed “campaign malpractice,” citing the dramatic turnaround in the polls since January.

Ford then defended Teneycke, saying that if he had been running Poilievre’s campaign, the Conservatives would not have been trailing in the polls.

On election night, Conservative incumbent Jamil Jivani — a former member of Ford’s provincial government — blasted Ford as “an opportunist.”

“I’m sitting here saying we need to be fighting for change and something new and something different, not being a hype man to the Liberal party,” Jivani told CBC in an interview.

Soudas said Ford clearly wanted Carney to win a majority government.

“The big question is, will the federal Conservatives now let bygones be bygones?” he asked.

Conservative supporter Joanne Gurman, who attended the Conservative event in Ottawa, said she can’t understand why people voted Liberal.

“I don’t understand why people still want to live in the same nine years, the same over and over again, like nothing is going to change,” she said.

Gurman, who is from Montreal, said she has never been involved in politics before now.

Her daughter Raquel Gurman said she hopes to see a better, more prosperous Canada.

“Regardless of what happens, we do have to stick together as Canadians and we have to incorporate our Conservative values with the Liberal party,” she said.

“Look, this isn’t the result that we were hoping for. And unfortunately it seems Canadians have chosen a very different version of the future than the one I would have liked to see,” Melissa Lantsman, the party’s co-deputy leader, told supporters in her riding in Thornhill, Ont.

“This is a time of great uncertainty and turmoil. But our new prime minister deserves the congratulations, our prayers and most importantly — in a democracy — a very, very strong opposition.”

— With files from Sharif Hassan in Thornhill, Ont.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2025.

Sarah Ritchie and Nick Murray, The Canadian Press