Photo: Canadian Press

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a news conference in New Westminster B.C., on Sunday, April 6, 2025.

The Conservative MPs representing Kamloops' two ridings say party leader Pierre Poilievre has their support, but it looks like neither of them were prepared to give him their seat in the House of Commons.

The leader of the Official Opposition lost his Ottawa seat in the April 28 election after representing the area for more than 20 years.

Asked after the election whether he would give up his seat if requested by Poilievre, Caputo said “that would be an interesting discussion.”

“I don't see that happening, to be very candid,” he said.

The newly re-elected MP said he was surprised to see Poilievre lose his Ontario seat.

“It's never easy to see somebody lose their riding,” Caputo said.

Poilievre is expected to seek a seat in Alberta in a byelection after MP Damien Kurek offered to resign to allow the party leader the chance to run again.

Asked whether he would have resigned his seat to Poilievre if asked, Arnold said he “hadn't really put much consideration into it,” and noted the scenario didn't come up.

He's still their guy

Caputo said Poilievre was elected with 70 per cent of the vote from Conservative Party members, and that shouldn’t be forgotten.

“I don't believe that a leader should be easily displaced, especially somebody who grew our vote total and had the highest vote total since Brian Mulroney,” Caputo said, adding he was interested in hearing what new plans Poilievre and his fellow Tories have in mind.

Asked the same question, Arnold said he's "absolutely behind" Poilievre.

“I can't wait until he gets back to appear in the House of Commons himself again," he said.

Kurek won his riding of Battle River-Crowfoot in this past election with about 82 per cent of the vote. Caputo won Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola with 51 per cent of the vote and Arnold won Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies with 52 per cent.

MPs cannot resign for a month after official election results are tallied.

Reflecting on election loss

Meanwhile, during last week’s Conservative caucus meetings in Ottawa, MPs chose Andrew Scheer to lead their party in Parliament during the spring sitting.

The Saskatchewan MP-elect and former party leader will assume the duties of Opposition leader in the House of Commons when the sitting begins May 26.

Those meetings are confidential, but Arnold told Castanet they went well.

“We're looking forward to getting back in the House of Commons and holding government accountable again,” he said.

Reflecting on the caucus meetings, Caputo noted the Conservatives grew their support to 41 per cent of the vote, which ordinarily could be majority government territory.

“Clearly, we have work to do to to grow that number and I think that we're just singularly focused on that,” Caputo said.

Caputo said his party is still reflecting on what lessons will be drawn from last month's vote.

“We'll have somebody who will likely prepare a report to kind of dig into things,” he said.

“It’s not just as simple as saying, 'What do you change?' You've got to know who voted for you this time that may not have, who didn't vote for you this time, who voted for you last time?”