Battle River–Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek officially resigned from Parliament today. The move will trigger a by-election for the riding where Pierre Poilievre will throw his hat into the ring in order to secure a seat in the the House of Commons.
Despite growing the Conservative seat count and the party’s popular vote, the Conservative leader lost his own seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy in the riding of Carleton. Poilievre had held the Ottawa region seat for 21 years.
Battle River–Crowfoot is a rural Alberta riding which occupies the space East of Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton. Poilievre volunteers have already started door knocking in the riding in anticipation of a by-election to be called within six months. For his part, Prime Minister Mark Carney has indicated that a by-election will happen sooner rather than later.
Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer taken up leadership duties in Parliament while Poilievre maintains his status as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Poilievre will face a leadership review likely in January of 2026 at the upcoming Conservative policy convention. Poilievre still enjoys widespread support within the party.
The collapse of Jagmeet Singh‘s NDP and the agitation of US President Donald Trump to remove Justin Trudeau and then install Mark Carney over a kayfabe fight on trade and sovereigty proved to be catastrophic for a Conservative Party that was on its way to forming a majority government just months ago.
So, Damien Kurek steps into the role of ‘good guy’ and steps aside so Pierre Poilievre can take his seat in the Commons. Perhaps we’ll be calling him Senator Kurek some day?