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Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux announced Thursday he is resigning from the House of Commons, contrary to speculation he was preparing to defect to the Liberals.
Rumours had swirled all week that the Alberta MP was considering crossing the floor, and Conservative sources had said he was under pressure to stay from some in the party.
But Jeneroux says coercion played no role in his decision to leave federal politics.
“I want to be clear that there was no coercion involved in my decision to resign. I consider my colleagues in the Conservative Party very close friends, and I will miss them dearly,” he said in a statement.
Jeneroux’s resignation is the second departure from the Conservative caucus announced this week after Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont joined the Liberals on Tuesday — two blows to Pierre Poilievre’s leadership which also give the minority Liberal government more breathing room to get bills, like this week’s budget, through Parliament.
Matt Jeneroux, the MP for the Alberta riding of Edmonton Riverbend, announced his resignation from the House of Commons on Thursday.
Jeneroux made only a passing reference to Poilievre in the statement that announced his resignation.
A second statement, sent to reporters a few hours later through official party channels, said he spoke to the Conservative leader after his announcement and stressed that it was a desire to spend time with family that motivated his decision to call it quits.
“I had a great conversation with Pierre Poilievre, who wished me all the best, as I do him. I ran under his leadership in hopes we could form a government that would offer hope to Canadians. I wish him and my colleagues all the best as they continue to raise cost living issues facing Canadians,” Jeneroux said.
D’Entremont said he joined the Liberals because of Poilievre’s leadership style.
Jeneroux, who was first elected in 2015, said he informed party whip Chris Warkentin earlier Thursday of his intention to resign.
“I hope to have the opportunity to address the House one final time in the future. For now, my focus must turn entirely to my family and to the responsibilities that come with that,” Jeneroux said.
The MP said he was “deeply grateful” for those who have reached out to him in recent days while also urging people to “please not attempt to contact my family during this time.”
Jeneroux said he ran in the last election “hopeful that Canadians would put their faith in a team led by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives,” and he “wanted desperately to play a role in that vision” but “the outcome was not what I anticipated.”
Poilievre publicly thanked Jeneroux for his service — and suggested the MP’s official departure could still be months away.
“On behalf of our Conservative team, I wish you and your family all the best following your decision to step down as a member of Parliament next spring,” Poilievre said in a social media post.
Jeneroux later clarified that his “exact date of departure will be determined at a later day,” but suggested it would be “this spring.”
This resignation will prompt a byelection for his Edmonton seat, which he won by a relatively narrow margin of five percentage points over his Liberal opponent in April.
Party brass working to stop possible floor-crossings
Once news of d’Entremont’s floor-crossing broke, Conservatives moved to quickly quell any more departures, sources told CBC News.
The d’Entremont defection prompted panic inside the party that more MPs were poised to leave for the Liberals, possibly giving the government at least two more seats and a majority in the House of Commons, Conservative sources said.
In the hours since d’Entremont’s decision to resign, Conservative party brass have been trying to persuade potential floor-crossers to drop their plans, sources said.
Former Conservative campaign manager Jenni Byrne, who is still an adviser to the party, has been involved in the party’s efforts to quell possible floor-crossings, sources said.
Senior Conservatives feel that these efforts to staunch the bleeding have worked — at least for now, a source said.
Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux is resigning from the House of Commons. The announcement comes after rumours swirled this week that he was considering crossing the floor to the Liberals.
A number of MPs who were rumoured to be leaving the party have said they are, in fact, not going to the Liberals.
Quebec MP Dominique Vien posted a video on social media reaffirming she is a Conservative.
“I have no intention of crossing the floor of the House,” she said in French.
Even with public denials and private pressure, senior Liberals still believe there could be further defections, Liberal sources said.
The Liberals have had discussions with multiple Conservative MPs about crossing the floor, sources said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was asked Wednesday if he is having those discussions and said: “We’ll speak to anyone publicly or otherwise who can support us.”
D’Entremont told reporters he knows of some former Conservative caucus mates who “are in the same boat” as him — they are feeling disaffected with Poilievre’s leadership style — and they could follow him to the Liberals.
It’s in that context that Warkentin urged the caucus to stick together at the party’s Wednesday meeting on Parliament Hill, Conservative sources said.
One of those sources described Warkentin’s pep talk as a “kumbaya” moment where he talked about the value of party unity.
