Conservatives have kicked off their national convention in Calgary focused on hope for the future and presenting a vision of a party that is united in the face of Liberal attempts to divide.
"Canadians are looking for serious leadership and real, tangible solutions, and we provide that," said Quebec MP Pierre Paul-Hus at the convention's opening ceremonies Thursday.
Organizers told the crowd this weekend's event is the largest Conservative convention in history.
In an interview on Sunday, Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer told The Canadian Press he's expecting to see many people who've never attended a convention before.
Poilievre is set to address several thousand party faithful on Friday evening, in a speech that many anticipate will set the tone for the Tories heading into the next election.
It is also meant to set the tone for the vote that happens moments after his speech wraps. Delegates are widely expected to confirm Poilievre's continued leadership.
"This weekend, we'll show Canadians just how ready we are to get to government, back on track after 10 years of Liberal mismanagement," said Alberta MP Stephanie Kusie on Thursday.
Ontario MP Costas Menegakis spoke from the stage Friday morning, urging unity in the party.
"The Liberals have tried to sow division in our party for months now," he said, an apparent reference to the two Conservative MPs who crossed the floor to the government benches since November.
Laura Stephenson, a political science professor at Western University, said the Conservatives have struggled since 2015 to hold together the different factions of the party.
"There is definitely a more far-right faction and there is definitely more centrist faction," she said.
Stephenson said some of the more moderate members of the Conservative big-tent might be happy with the direction of the current Liberal government.
Recent polls suggest that may be true. Surveys from Leger and Abacus Data this week suggest the Liberals have increased their share of support, in particular since Carney's trade mission to China and his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Leger's poll suggests Liberal support is at 47 per cent, with the Conservatives trailing at 38 per cent. It also suggests 58 per cent of Canadians are satisfied with Carney's government.
Abacus polling suggests while 76 per cent of Conservative voters would opt to keep Poilievre as leader, just 34 per cent of Canadians think he should stay on.
Abacus's data also suggests Canadians have an overall negative view of Poilievre and a positive view of Carney.
The polls cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
On Thursday evening, Quebec MP Luc Berthold accused Carney of being "on the side of big business," not on the side of small business and entrepreneurs. Other speakers said the Liberal government works for elites and insiders, not regular people.
The Conservatives under Poilievre have rebranded themselves as being a party for the working-class and union members.
The lineup of MPs who spoke to the crowd gave a likely preview of what Poilievre will have to say on Friday.
It's an echo of the message Poilievre first launched nearly a year ago, in mid-February, when the party held a "Canada First" rally in Ottawa. At the time, U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war had just launched a wave of Canadian national pride, and the Liberals were surging in the polls with the prospect of a new leader taking the helm.
The Conservative leader adjusted his tone, dropping the message that "Canada is broken," and turning to a more positive vision of the country.
From the convention stage on Thursday, B.C. MP Aaron Gunn took a shot at Carney and the Liberals, saying "we will take no lectures, especially from those who only spontaneously discovered their patriotism and love for Canada 15 months ago."
Ontario MP Arpan Khanna laid out the problems that persist, from housing unaffordability to crime.
"But Pierre and Conservatives are offering a different vision: a message of hope, a message of opportunity, a message that says Canada should work for those who work hard in our country."
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to speak at the convention, but a number of other conservative premiers who were in Ottawa meeting with the prime minister this week won't be making an appearance.
Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative party is holding its own convention this weekend in Ontario, a schedule that was set after the federal party announced its own date.
Nova Scotia's Tim Houston is skipping the convention, as is Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who says he wishes Poilievre well and expects him to get strong support.
Poilievre's team had public rifts with the Progressive Conservative governments in both Ontario and Nova Scotia during the spring election campaign.
Moe, who had been a vocal critic of Justin Trudeau's Liberal governments, has found an ally in Prime Minister Mark Carney and has spoken positively about his government's efforts to solve trade issues with China that affected Prairie canola growers and to emphasize major infrastructure projects.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
