Election 2025: Focus on what unites us

It's a conservative talking point, but it makes sense to stop fighting each other when there's a much bigger enemy mumbling incoherently across the border.

I’m not disappointed by last night’s election results; a majority government might have been great for Mark Carney to just release his plan and get to work. It would have been easier, to be sure, but I live in Alberta under the rule of a maga simp who needs to use Ottawa as a scapegoat for her bad decisions and legendary poor judgement. Because of that, I was (and remain) concerned about the chaos she and her minions will create for both my province and country simply because they feel it might benefit themselves in some way.

A minority government offers something that may be just the thing we need right now; the opportunity to do something we haven’t seen in over a century: form a true unity government. Not a confidence and supply agreement, but a truly unified government with opposition members in Cabinet so they are actually involved in decision-making.

Having watched Mr. Poilievre since he won the leadership, I have seen no indication that he would be willing to work with such a government. Like his Alberta Reformist colleague, Danielle Smith, I don’t believe there is a compromise, or any advantage to Canadians he would not oppose simply because it was proposed by a Liberal. Without a seat in Parliament, Mr. Poilievre doesn’t factor into any decisions about the future direction of government if Prime Minister Carney were to give serious consideration to a unity government.

Despite the constant whinging from conservatives that Canadians were voting Liberal out of “fear”, I would argue it was actually hope that Mark Carney could deliver the leadership that Canada has needed for decades. Yes, more than just the Trudeau years, more than just Harper’s term as well. There’s a good possibility it goes back further than Mulroney, but I imagine NAFTA, and the lopsided agreement that benefited the U.S. (in legal options) far more than Canada played a significant role.

It wasn’t simply one moment, or one Prime Minister but there is a lot of hope that Mark Carney will play a significant role in our future.

Speaking of unity…

There have been questions circling around what’s going to happen with the two federal parties whose leaders lost their seats yesterday. NDP’s Jagmeet Singh stepped down last night but there’s been no suggestion so far that Pierre Poilievre will do the same, or even an expectation that he would (out here, anyway).

The NDP was decimated across the country. Right now it looks like they will have seven seats — that means no party status. The party will obviously have a leadership race and I’ve seen Alberta MP Heather McPherson’s name thrown around. It would be somewhat interesting to see what a national leader of an Alberta-based NDP leader would look like; and for how long that seemingly safe NDP seat in Alberta remained that way.

The CPC increased their vote share, and their seat count. Leaders lose their seats sometimes — just because it’s the first time it happened to Poilievre doesn’t make it special.

Initially, I didn’t see any reason why he would step down. Then I remembered that conservatives aren’t exactly known for holding onto leaders when they see an opportunity to shove them down an open elevator shaft.

After Andrew Scheer lost the 2019 election, it was highly rumoured that the PC-side of the CPC leaked the fact that private school for Andrew Scheer’s five children was being paid for with donations to the party. The news caused Stephen Harper to step away from the party’s National Council, and Andrew Scheer resigned as leader, triggering a leadership race.

Erin O’Toole won that race, and after losing the 2021 election, was knifed by caucus after Pierre Poilievre secured a majority of votes from his caucus mates to oust Mr. O’Toole in a confidence vote. As we know, Mr. Poilievre handily won that leadership race.

Last night, however, Mr. Poilievre lost his own seat. A seat he had held for 20 years. Losing his own seat after 20 years looks like bad management. It looks like he’s out of touch.

It also put Mr. Poilievre into a fairly weak position. He remains the CPC leader, but he is not the Leader of the Official Opposition because you have to have a seat in the House. Opposition leaders can struggle to maintain their caucus without a seat. They cannot ask questions and they cannot be on the floor of the House. They also need to have a by-election to get into the House.

While one would think he’d have more than a few newly elected members of parliament calling him up and offering their seats, I have no idea what the dynamic of that new caucus is. Leslyn Lewis, for example, had a decent leadership run herself against Erin O’Toole. She’s from the la-la-land wing of the CPC but if Mr. Poilievre set about increasing the number of MPs who are more in line with Ms. Lewis’ politics, there’s no guarantee she’s not forming her own coalition.

To be clear, I don’t actually think the CPC caucus is doing this, but after a little thought, I also don’t think it’s an impossibility either.

There’s also the possibility that Mr. Poilievre might enjoy a break. He basically grew up in the House of Commons. He qualified for a gold-plated pension 12 years ago. He has a wife, and two small children. He knows this job is hard on families. If he’d won his seat, he’d have strolled back in to work without ever giving it a second thought. He might come to the conclusion that losing his seat was the best thing that could have happened to him.

Canada needs unity more than ever

For the most part, I think we can say the Conservative Party of Canada was successful in keeping Canadians from thinking too hard about the threats to Canada from the Trump administration’s outstanding incompetence. Now that the election is over, however, it returns to being a consequential consideration for the Prime Minister, and Canadians. As is having to deal with bad actors who are trying to figure out how they can personally benefit from not only threatening, but probably creating a national unity crisis.

For those reasons, a true unity government would go a long way to ensuring a Team Canada approach that includes everyone. We need our political leaders to work together and we need to ensure all parties are involved because bad actors at the federal level have also done what they could to divide Canadians.

Obviously no one is expecting this Alberta government to get on board, so it’s worth looking around them for someone who actually cares about the future of our country.

If I had the privilege, I would schedule a meeting with every elected official and ask them what their goals are, and how they feel they could best accomplish them this term. It’s just like a new boss; you may not have direct contact with every single person who works for you, but as a leader, you should get to know everyone’s strengths. Mark Carney is not just the Liberal leader, he is the Prime Minister of Canada.

Ostensibly, every elected MP was chosen to not only represent their constituency but also to work toward a better, stronger Canada. That is the most important task before each one of them today, no matter which party they belong to.

I chose to enter politics, because I felt we needed big changes – big changes guided by strong Canadian values.

Including three values that I want to highlight: humility, ambition, and unity.

Values that I will do my best to uphold each day over the next four years as your Prime Minister.

So today and every day forward, my message to every Canadian is this:

No matter where you live, no matter what language you speak, no matter how you voted, I will always do my best to represent everyone who calls Canada home.

Mark Carney, April 29, 2025

That advice about never believing your own press releases? It was referring to political spin, not promises. The above is a promise that I believe the Prime Minister should be held to; not only because he said it, but because we deserve it.

There are far too many people who seek the short-term benefit of rage, and hope for a long-term personal benefit from dividing Canadians and we have an opportunity to put a stop to that. I really hope it is not wasted.

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