Sep 16, 2026 2:00 PM - Connect Newsroom - Ramandeep Kaur with files from The Canadian Press

Canada’s Official Opposition Conservative Party has begun a two-day parliamentary caucus meeting in Penticton, B.C., under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre.
The meeting comes ahead of the parliamentary session starting September 21 and is expected to give Poilievre an opportunity to rally his MPs, as the Conservatives are currently trailing the Liberals by double digits in the polls.
According to reports, several Conservative MPs who have returned from working in their ridings during the summer break are increasingly concerned about potentially losing their seats in the next election. Continued poor polling numbers have also made some MPs less confident that the party can quickly recover.
An Abacus Data poll currently puts the Conservatives 14 points behind the Liberals, marking some of the party’s weakest polling numbers in recent years.

