Questions over Conservative unity resurface amid bickering over 'Liberal' staff, data centres

OTTAWA — Sniping over “Liberal lobbyists” working for a B.C. Conservative leadership campaign and federal Conservatives at odds over a new data centre announcement has some Conservatives calling for more discipline in the movement under Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre.

On Thursday, Caroline Elliott, who finished a close second to Kerry-Lynne Findlay in the B.C. Conservative leadership race, issued a direct response to Poilievre over remarks he made the week before while delivering a speech at a Conservative Party event at the Calgary Stampede.

Also on Thursday, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis criticized a new AI data centre in Alberta announced the day before, and heralded by Premier Danielle Smith, leading to a public reproof from a fellow Tory MP from the province.

In the Poilievre incident, he had introduced Findlay at the Stampede event as “the future premier of British Columbia,” and added that she was “fresh off a big win against Liberal lobbyists from out east.”

Though he didn’t mention any “lobbyists” by name, many in the audience interpreted it as a reference to Kory Teneycke, who managed Elliott’s campaign and previously organized Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s three successful provincial campaigns. Teneycke emerged as a vocal critic of Poilievre’s federal election strategy last year, leading to ongoing bad blood with the federal Conservatives.

Elliott, a political commentator, responded on Thursday, saying she has been a longtime supporter of Poilievre’s, including in his January leadership review. She called his remarks “disappointing.”

“The race is over, and it’s time to unite, not divide,” Elliott said in a roughly 50-second video posted to X .

Elliott added that her campaign was comprised of many of Poilievre’s own former staffers, including Ben Woodfinden, the Conservative leader’s past communications director, and Anthony Koch, his press secretary during his 2022 leadership race.

“Despite a very close loss in that race, I’m doing everything I can to continue to fight our disastrous NDP government here in B.C., because I know that politics is about addition, not subtraction, putting the public interest ahead of personal disputes, welcoming people in, not shutting them out,” Elliott said.

I was in the backcountry for a few days and came back to some commentary about my leadership campaign.

Here’s my response, not as a “liberal lobbyist from out east,” but as a born-and-raised British Columbian and lifelong federal Conservative voter.

As someone who cast my… pic.twitter.com/Pbla6ERvPf

— Caroline Elliott (@NVanCaroline) July 9, 2026

A request for comment to Poilievre’s office was not returned Thursday.

Fred DeLorey, who ran the party’s 2021 campaign, called the infighting between Conservatives “clearly a problem.”

“It’s never good when you’re in government, and it’s never good when you’re in Opposition. It doesn’t matter the context, but our party is fracturing, and we can’t win when we’re fracturing.”

Smoothing tensions between the federal and provincial conservative parties was named as a priority in the aftermath of last year’s election, which saw Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston each distance themselves from Poilievre’s campaign, with Ford publicly backing Teneycke following the criticisms, and Houston adding that the Conservative party “ was very good at pushing people away, not so good at pulling people in.”

Also on Thursday, Conservative MPs argued publicly over a $13-billion data centre Meta recently announced it plans to build in Alberta, which Smith celebrated as a historic investment in her province.

Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis, whom Poilievre recently named as the party’s AI critic, questioned the viability of the project, writing on X , “Canadians deserve to know how this data centre will actually be built when Canada is already facing serious constraints in energy infrastructure, grid capacity, engineering capacity and skilled labour.”

She added that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government ought to be clear about “who will ultimately own, control and benefit from the infrastructure if it proceeds.”

The premier said Alberta stands to collect hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes, royalties and levies from the project, and that it will create up to 300 jobs, not including an expected 3,000 construction jobs.

Longtime Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who acts as the party’s critic on immigration, responded directly to Lewis on Thursday calling the project a “great investment” for the province, adding that it falls entirely within Alberta’s jurisdiction.

“We have some of the best minds on grid management and capacity in the country,” Rempel Garner wrote on X in response. “I’m sure any of our colleagues in the provincial government will be happy to sit down with you and walk (you) through the project.”

Lewis later posted that her issue was not with Alberta attracting the project, but with federal energy policies.

It’s a great investment in Alberta, and is squarely in their jurisdiction. We have some of the best minds on grid management and capacity in the country. I’m sure any of our colleagues in the provincial government will be happy to sit down with you and walk through the project.

— Michelle Rempel Garner (@MichelleRempel) July 9, 2026

Dimitri Soudas, who once worked as a communications director for former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, said the public back-and-forth between two Conservative parliamentary critics combined with Poilievre’s remarks about Elliott’s campaign raise a central question for the party.

“Does this look like a government in waiting?” he said. “Does it look like the ship has a captain?”

DeLorey added he believes there to be a lack of “discipline and focus” in the party.

After a parliamentary session that saw Poilievre lose four of his MPs through defections to the Liberals, which helped Carney upgrade his minority Liberal government to a majority, he and his team have been hoping to inject a sense of renewal in the caucus ranks through a recent shuffling of critic roles .

That shakeup saw Poilievre place longtime Ontario MP Michael Chong, who is widely respected within Parliament, in the finance critic role, and Shuvaloy Majumdar, a Calgary MP with contacts in Washington and a background in international relations, in the critic role for Canada-U.S. relations. It also led to Lewis taking on the AI role.

Poilievre, who has for months trailed Carney’s Liberals in successive public opinion polls, has vowed to stay on as party leader, often pointing to the nearly 88 per cent support he earned from party delegates during his January leadership review.

Still, within caucus and the wider party, doubts fester about his ability to win against Carney.

This week saw Poilievre lose a fifth MP, this time to the Senate. Richard Martel resigned his seat in Parliament after Carney appointed him to the upper chamber .

National Post

staylor@postmedia.com

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