Why what Poilievre says matters — even though he lost his seat

Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre may have lost his seat in the House of Commons but he's not lost his voice on the national stage.

Poilievre held two news conferences in the past week, taking questions from reporters and explaining how his party will approach the new Parliament — and he's done so without being the leader of the Official Opposition.  

Unlike the prime minister, who can hold the position from outside the House of Commons, the Opposition leader, by law, must have a seat in the House. 

Christopher Cochrane, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, told CBC News that a prime minister is the leader of their party and must have the confidence of the majority of members in the House of Commons.

"For the leader of the Opposition it's different, in the sense that the leader of the Opposition is a person in the House of Commons that grills the government and holds them to account," Cochrane said. "So they by definition need to be in the House of Commons to perform that function."

The Conservative Party chose former leader Andrew Scheer to fill that role until Poilievre can secure a seat in a byelection. But Cochrane says what Poilievre says still has meaning because "Scheer will be taking his marching orders from Poilievre."

Cochrane explained that in modern parliamentary politics the party decides who asks questions in the House, what the Opposition MPs will ask and what issues they will focus on. 

"Poilievre's control of the party apparatus, and support of the party apparatus, would give him a lot of power over his party — and business in the House of Commons is completely and utterly party dominated," he said. 

Poilievre lost his Ontario riding of Carleton to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy by 4,513 votes in the April 28 federal election, which means he has to win another seat in the House before he can resume his responsibilities as leader of the Opposition. 

To do that, another member of his caucus must resign their seat so Poilievre can run in a byelection. Conservative MP Damien Kurek, who won his Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot with 82 per cent of the vote, has already announced his intention to do so.

Kurek can't actually resign until 30 days after his victory is published in the government's official publication, the Canada Gazette, which happened Thursday. 

By law, that 30-day period must be allowed to pass, in order to allow for any potential challenges to the election result.

Once that window closes, the Governor General, on the advice of the prime minister and cabinet, then sets the date for the byelection, which can be called between 11 and 180 days after an MP resigns.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said at his first news conference after the election that he will do that swiftly.