Political strategist claims Pierre Poilievre's major misstep wasn't linked to Trump, instead, it was another mistake.
Whew, what a shocker, eh? Conservative fans are seething with disbelief and dismay following Mark Carney's Liberals pulling off a sudden victory in the 2025 election. The energy driving Pierre Poilievre's campaign, so strong at rallies jam-packed with thousands upon thousands of enthusiastic attendees, created an undeniable certainty among some that the polls and projections had it all wrong.
Just a few months back, the Conservatives seemed destined to claim a healthy win over Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. So, what the heck happened?
According to political strategist Kory Teneycke, the Conservatives' most significant strategic error going into this election was their relentless barrage of negative advertising aimed at Justin Trudeau. Years of this hostile messaging had Trudeau's popularity plummeting below 20% by the time he stepped down, leaving Poilievre with an empty punching bag.
"If Pierre Poilievre had been battling against Justin Trudeau – keeping everything else the same – we'd be looking at a Conservative majority tonight," Teneycke explained during the election coverage on our website News. "We got rid of the guy who was going to deliver a victory for us."
Instead of a Conservative majority, the Liberals now hold 169 seats, just three short of a majority, compared to the Conservatives' 144. And on Tuesday morning, our website News declared Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy the winner in Poilievre's riding of Carleton, marking an end to his nearly two-decade tenure as a Member of Parliament, at least for now.
Political pundits point to Poilievre's reluctance to publicly denounce Trump in the early days of the trade war as another factor contributing to the Conservatives' poor performance.
Teneycke, who's been in the headlines recently accusing Poilievre's team of "campaign malpractice," agrees that was a strategic mistake but believes there were more mistakes that could haunt the party for years to come.
"I think there's a question as to whether or not the type of campaign the Conservatives ran was so repellent to NDP voters that they turned to the Liberals, a Bay Street banker," Teneycke said.
The NDP has lost their party status, and Jagmeet Singh, after failing to secure re-election in his riding of Burnaby Central, has already announced he will step down. Meanwhile, the Conservatives, despite disappointing hopes of supporters, managed to pick up a hefty number of seats, an achievement that pleases some insiders.
"To give the Conservative party credit, they've built their base to a historic level," Teneycke added. "But in doing so, they might have just moved the goalposts further away if the result of that is the collapse of the NDP."
Veteran Liberal political advisor Scott Reid credits Carney with resuscitating a party deemed dead and buried by the time Trudeau departed.
"Someone without any political experience, never holding elected office, walked in and has pulled off something astonishing and virtually unheard of in Canadian electoral history," Reid told our website News.
- The shocking win in the 2025 election by Mark Carney's Liberals has left Conservative fans disbelieving and dismayed.
- The sudden victory was unexpected, despite the strong energy at Pierre Poilievre's rallies.
- Just a few months prior, the Conservatives seemed destined to claim a healthy win over Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.
- Political strategist Kory Teneycke believes the Conservatives' tactic of relentless negative advertising against Justin Trudeau was their most significant strategic error.
- If Poilievre had battled against a more popular Trudeau, Teneycke says a Conservative majority would have been possible.
- The Liberals now hold 169 seats, compared to the Conservatives' 144, with just three seats short of a majority.
- On Monday, Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy was declared the winner in Poilievre's riding of Carleton, ending his nearly two-decade tenure as a Member of Parliament.
- Poilievre's reluctance to publicly denounce Trump in the early days of the trade war is seen as another factor contributing to the Conservatives' poor performance.
- In the future, Teneycke believes there were more mistakes made by the Conservatives party that could haunt them for years.
- The NDP has lost their party status after failing to secure re-election, and Jagmeet Singh has announced his resignation after losing in his riding.
- Veteran Liberal political advisor Scott Reid credits Carney with resuscitating a party deemed dead and buried, by pulling off something astonishing and nearly unheard of in Canadian electoral history.
