Pierre Poilievre set to speak to Conservative MPs before House of Commons opens

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will welcome the new House of Commons session with a speech to his MPs on Sunday afternoon. The Conservatives are still reeling from an election loss to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals, which was made all the more devastating because the Tories were leading by more than 20 percentage points at the beginning of the year. The party has yet to confirm if it will be doing an official review of the campaign to determine if lessons can be learned for the next election, but some MPs have said that they want to see changes and “contrition” from the leader in the wake of the loss in April. Last week, Poilievre announced that more than half of his MPs will serve in critic roles with the roster showcasing more experienced MPs than fresh faces. With the House set to open for the first time in nearly six months, there have been hints of a change of tone from the Conservatives, who have offered to work with the government on issues relating to Canada-U.S. relations as the country endures a trade war with its southern neighbour. The first order of business for Poilievre, though, will be to get a seat in the House of Commons. The Conservative leader will soon be running in a byelection in Battle River—Crowfoot after losing his own Ottawa-area seat in the April election. Conservative MP Damien Kurek has pledged to step down as a member of Parliament in the riding to allow Poilievre to run. National Post Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.

• Separatists want to 'hold Poilievre's feet to the fire' in Alberta byelection bid
• Poilievre picks experience over fresh faces in 74-person 'shadow cabinet'

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.