In a decisive victory that was all but preordained, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has secured his return to Parliament after winning the Battle River–Crowfoot byelection in rural Alberta on August 18, 2025. The result, projected by major outlets including CBC and The Canadian Press just after polls closed, marks both a personal comeback for Poilievre and a reaffirmation of Conservative dominance in one of Canada’s safest blue ridings.
With nearly all polls reporting by the early hours of August 19, Poilievre had amassed an overwhelming 80 percent of the vote, according to CBC. The tally stood at 34,631 votes for Poilievre, with Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley trailing at 4,298 votes (9.9 percent), and Liberal Darcy Spady at 1,885 votes (4.4 percent). The outcome was never in serious doubt, but the night’s proceedings offered a window into the political dynamics shaping both Alberta and the federal Conservative Party.
The byelection was triggered after Conservative MP Damien Kurek, who had just won the seat in the spring general election with a commanding 82.8 percent, stepped down to clear the path for Poilievre. The Conservative leader had lost his long-held Ottawa-area seat of Carleton in April to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy, a defeat that left him unable to participate in question period or debates as Official Leader of the Opposition. Since then, Andrew Scheer, a former party leader himself, had served as interim Opposition leader in Parliament.
For Poilievre, the Battle River–Crowfoot contest was not just a formality but a necessity. Without a seat, his leadership was hobbled, and the party’s ability to challenge Prime Minister Mark Carney in the House of Commons was diminished. As The Canadian Press reported, Poilievre’s victory means he can now return to Parliament to face Carney directly, restoring the Conservative frontbench to its full strength.
“Getting to know the people in this region has been the privilege of my life,” Poilievre told supporters at a victory party in Camrose, Alberta, according to The Canadian Press. “In fact, I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun.” He went on to praise the area’s residents as “the kind of what you see is what you get, give you the shirt off their back, tell it like it is, common sense people,” echoing the riding’s reputation for straightforward, conservative values.
The riding itself is vast, covering some 56,000 square kilometers and including communities like Drumheller, Hanna, Stettler, Camrose, and Provost. It has been a Conservative stronghold for decades, with the party winning every election since 2004 by margins that would make most politicians envious. As Julie Simmons, an associate professor at the University of Guelph, told The Canadian Press, the one recent exception was Kurek’s 71 percent showing in 2021, though he rebounded to 83 percent in April 2025.
This time, the ballot was unlike any other in Canadian history. In a protest against the country’s first-past-the-post voting system, a record 214 candidates put their names forward—most of them affiliated with the Longest Ballot Committee, a group advocating for electoral reform. Elections Canada was forced to provide special write-in blank ballots, making for a voting experience as memorable as it was unwieldy. As David Stewart, a professor emeritus at the University of Calgary, noted to CBC, “the controversy over the large number, record number of names on the ballot, I think ended up working in [Critchley’s] favour because she was able to say, ‘Look, I’m not like these others. I think this is a kind of ridiculous thing to do and they’re meddling in our decision.’”
Despite the protest, the outcome was clear. Poilievre’s main challenger, Bonnie Critchley, a military veteran and local resident, ran as an independent and managed to outpace both the Liberal and NDP candidates combined. Critchley was vocal in her criticism of the byelection itself, telling CBC, “To tell the truth, I’m tired, I’m frustrated, I’m really kind of angry that we’re even doing this again. We had picked the guy we wanted back in April. Now, we’re spending $2 million of taxpayer money on another man’s ego project.”
Some local voters echoed Critchley’s frustration, while others were enthusiastic about Poilievre’s candidacy. Stacey Martin, a Camrose resident, told The Canadian Press she voted for Poilievre because he’s “the best one to represent us,” adding, “I think it’s going to come out Pierre, because I think that’s what everybody wanted to start with.” She expressed pride in Kurek’s decision to step aside, saying, “For me, it didn’t make a difference if it was Damien or Pierre, I would have been just happy to have Damien in there.”
Not everyone was convinced Poilievre would be a true representative for the region. Delphine Doerksen, who typically votes Liberal, cast her ballot for Critchley, explaining to The Canadian Press, “I don’t think Poilievre is going to represent this riding. He is just here to get a seat in Parliament, basically. And I don’t think we’ll see him again.”
Other candidates in the crowded field included NDP candidate Katherine Swampy, a former band councillor for Samson Cree Nation; Libertarian Michael Harris, who campaigned for a referendum on Alberta separation; and Jonathan Bridges of the People’s Party of Canada. Despite the diversity of candidates, none came close to threatening Poilievre’s dominance.
The turnout reflected both the riding’s political engagement and its predictability. More than 14,000 people cast advance ballots, with over 86,000 eligible voters in total. The Conservative brand remains deeply entrenched here, and as Stewart told CBC, “I think anybody who tells you they’re surprised that Pierre Poilievre won tonight is misleading you. The only question that was I think at stake is how big the victory would be and whether it would be enough that it didn’t allow questions to be raised about him not doing as well as his predecessor.”
For Poilievre, the win comes at a crucial time. He faces a party leadership review in January 2026, after the Conservatives failed to form government in the last federal election. Under the party’s constitution, members will vote on whether he should remain as leader at the next national convention. Stewart suggested that the byelection victory is unlikely to sway opinions dramatically: “With this kind of result, I don’t think it has any impact on the leadership review. If anything, maybe marginally positive, but people aren’t going to change their minds really about Mr. Poilievre because he was able to win a byelection in rural Alberta, in a riding that they’d won with over [80 percent] of the vote in the last election.”
Now, with a seat back in the House of Commons and a strong mandate from Battle River–Crowfoot, Poilievre is poised to reassert himself as the chief rival to Prime Minister Mark Carney. The road ahead for Canada’s Conservatives may be uncertain, but in Alberta’s heartland, their leader has found solid ground.
