‘This will be Pierre Poilivere’s party’: Conservatives reckon with a new direction

Multiple sources tell Global News the Poilievre campaign has drawn in a significant number of new members that haven’t participated in party politics before.

The explosion in Conservative membership sales could significantly shake up the party’s grassroots as well as the long-standing power dynamics between various factions, multiple sources tell Global News.

The biggest beneficiary of that shake-up would likely be Pierre Poilievre, the purported frontrunner to lead the Conservative Party of Canada into the next general election.

“This will be Pierre Poilievre’s party. There’s no question,” said one Conservative source. The source is not affiliated with the Poilievre campaign, but has direct knowledge of the party’s membership list of eligible leadership voters.

“Erin (O’Toole) and Andrew (Scheer) never commanded it like he will. And … based on everything he’s said in the past and everything he’s run on in this campaign, the Reform Party is finally taking over.”

“This will be the most right-wing leader we’ve ever seen in our country’s history,” the source added.

While the party brass refuse to authenticate campaign membership sales numbers, the Poilievre campaign claims to have signed up more than 312,000 memberships – just shy of half the roughly 675,000 eligible voters for the Sept. 10 contest.

Three sources from various leadership campaigns told Global News this week that Poilievre’s numbers include a substantial number of “new” Conservatives – members who have not participated in the federal party’s politics previously.

While the ballots have yet to be counted, most insiders – including those from rival campaigns – acknowlege that Poilievre is likely to be the next leader.