Conservative MPs line up to show support for Poilievre, after days of backlash over RCMP comments

OTTAWA — After days of backlash over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comments on the RCMP, a string of his MPs lined up in support of the leader on Wednesday and pushed back against the controversy itself. 

Usually quiet as they enter their weekly caucus meeting, a handful of Conservative MPs stopped to voice their support for Poilievre as well as the national force itself, whose leadership the Conservative leader called “despicable” in an interview aired last week, which he later clarified to say he was speaking about its past commissioner.

“His comments speak for themselves. He offered a precision that I think was very important,” said Ontario MP Michael Barrett, who serves as the party’s ethics critic.

Barrett and others also voiced support for the RCMP itself, some touching on personal connections to Mounties.

“I got a lot of friends in the RCMP, and a lot of us, of course, respect the work the RCMP does, particularly in these trying times, where you take a look at what they have to deal with on a daily basis,” said Calgary MP Greg McLean.

McLean, along with other MPs, suggested there was still criticism to go around for the handling of scandals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, including the SNC-Lavalin affair, which saw the federal ethics commissioner rule that Trudeau broke the rules attempting to influence his former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould.

The Calgary MP said the “evidence is quite clear” that an investigation remains warranted, and also suggested Prime Minister Mark Carney could “hold the old administration to account over what happened in SNC-Lavalin.”

At the height of the 2019 scandal, the RCMP looked at whether there was any criminality in Trudeau’s action in pressuring Wilson-Raybould to see that the Montreal construction firm secure a deferred prosecution agreement, rather than face criminal proceedings.

The force had specifically looked at the offences of obstruction of justice and the intimidation of a justice system participant.

Ultimately, the RCMP did not pursue charges, with commissioner Mike Duheme testifying before a parliamentary committee in February 2024 that the force was unable to “acquire or obtain enough information or evidence” to access documents kept secret under cabinet confidence provisions.

When asked about Poilievre’s recent comments about the RCMP’s handling of the episode, Duheme said he does not take political orders and encouraged Poilievre to meet with RCMP leadership.

“RCMP Members and leadership of the RCMP take their responsibilities seriously and operate with professionalism and integrity,” Brian Sauve, president of the National Police Federation, said in a brief statement.

Poilievre’s remarks about the six-year-old affair made in a wide-ranging interview with Northern Perspective, a YouTube channel, which bills itself as an “independent Canadian media channel,” have prompted Liberal, NDP and Green MPs to call for him to apologize, as well as former staffers of Stephen Harper, the last Conservative prime minister, to pen opinion pieces questioning the current leader’s decision-making.

Dimitri Soudas, a former communications director for Harper, wrote in the Toronto Star last week that Poilievre’s statement was nothing short of “recklessness.”  Andrew MacDougall, another former communications staffer of Harper’s, also opined in the same paper on Poilievre’s wisdom in giving the YouTube channel the time he did. 

The criticisms come amid doubts from within the party, including some in Poilievre’s own caucus, over his tactics after losing the spring federal election to Carney, which saw the Conservatives face questions over not focusing enough on the Canada-U.S. trade war and concerns that Poilievre’s tone was a no-go for some voters, particularly women and those 55 and older.

Poilievre is due to face a leadership review at the party’s convention in Calgary in January 2026.

Members of his caucus who spoke to reporters on Wednesday said he has their support.

“He’s a strong leader, defending men and women in uniform, and I, frankly, will take no lessons from the Liberals on standing up for frontline officers,” said Alberta MP Garnett Genuis.

Ontario MP Andrew Lawton also said he believed Poilievre “has tremendous support from caucus” as well as Canadians, brushing off his comments on the RCMP as a “little out of context,” suggesting it is “really not the biggest priority.”

In that wide-ranging interview, the hosts asked Poilievre how he would have handled the Trudeau-era scandals, which led the Conservative leader to say, as part of his answer, that there should have been “jail time” for those involved and that the “RCMP covered it all up.”

“The leadership at the RCMP is frankly just despicable when it comes to enforcing laws against the Liberal government.”

On Monday, Poilievre’s office released a statement clarifying he was referring to Brenda Lucki, the force’s past commissioner, and that he supports the national force.

It came after his office included a set of talking points for Conservative MPs on how to respond to questions about “RCMP leadership,” which included lines about how the party campaigned on providing them more resources during the last federal election, while including past public statements during the time of the SNC-Lavalin scandal itself.

On Wednesday, British Columbia MP Todd Doherty stopped to question reporters on their line of inquiry over Poilievre’s remarks.

“Of course I support the leader, and he’s going to be an incredible prime minster,” Doherty said.

Andrew Scheer, a close ally of Poilievre’s who served as the interim Opposition leader after Poilievre lost his Ottawa-area seat in the spring federal election, said much of the same, saying Conservatives were focused on issues like U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber and job losses in the auto sector.

“My leader’s put out a statement. I don’t have anything else to add.”

National Post

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