HUB EXCLUSIVE: Conservative MP Jamil Jivani talks Doug Ford, Pierre Poilievre, and JD Vance 

Jamil Jivani, one of several prominent, outspoken next-generation Conservative MPs, gave an exclusive interview to The Hub ahead of today’s Conservative caucus meeting, from his office on Parliament Hill.

The 37-year-old lawyer, author, former radio host, and former president of the Canada Strong and Free Network, who was first elected to Parliament in a 2024 by-election, was just re-elected as the MP for Bowmanville—Oshawa North.

Jivani expressed full confidence in Pierre Poilievre’s leadership, doubled down on his recent public criticisms of Ontario Premier Doug Ford during the federal election, calling the premier a “bully,” and acknowledged political differences with his close friend Vice President JD Vance. He also said he hopes the young people who poured their energy and hope into the recent Conservative campaign remain active in the conservative movement.

Below is an excerpt of Jivani’s interview with The Hub’s Ottawa Correspondent Élie Cantin-Nantel.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: Voters re-elected you in the riding of Bowmanville—Oshawa North. How do you feel about being sent back here to Ottawa for another term?

JAMIL JIVANI: I feel grateful. This was my first general election [as I was elected in a by-election], and it was a very intense experience. I had the opportunity to meet so many people and speak with many of my constituents. It’s humbling and flattering when they decide to send you back to represent them. I’m excited to get back to work and start addressing the issues my constituents were telling me about during the campaign.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: While you and 142 of your fellow Conservative colleagues were elected, and the party under Pierre Poilievre increased its share of the popular vote to more than 40 percent for the first time since 1988, won seats in traditionally unwinnable ridings, and brought in lots of the new people into the conservative movement, the Conservatives fell short of forming government. Pierre Poilevre is not prime minister. As a reminder, in January of this year, your party had a 20-plus-point lead. Come election day, that had evaporated.

Why did the Conservatives lose this election? What do you think the Conservatives need to do differently next time to win a majority government?

JAMIL JIVANI: I never really focused too much on polls, because I think they can only maybe be accurate, but if they are accurate, they are accurate for a time. A lot changed in the world between January and when the writ dropped. A lot of it had to do with U.S.-Canada relations. Obviously, Justin Trudeau leaving changed the dynamics. Also the collapse of the NDP and how unpopular Jagmeet Singh was. A lot of things were going on.

Pierre Poilievre put in an incredible amount of work into building a coalition around the idea of change and that’s what we sought to offer Canadians. I think that’s why we had so many people gravitate to our message, because we were offering real change, a new way of doing economic policy that would be opportunity focused, a new approach to building more homes, a new approach to addressing crime concerns and immigration, and all these different issues that people care about. So, you know, we built a coalition with Pierre Poilievre as our leader that will sustain itself, and I’m optimistic that we will grow from here.

What I’d like to see [moving forward] is more opportunities for people to get to know us. We need to just get out there more. I want people to know who we are, and I want them to know why we’re Conservative, [that] we have really important solutions to offer the public for their concerns, and that we can be difference-makers and make people’s lives easier and better and help people get ahead.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: Do you have confidence in Pierre Poilievre remaining as leader of the Conservative Party?

JAMIL JIVANI: Yes. He has the confidence of our caucus. I think people are strongly behind him. I see no reason why he shouldn’t continue to build this coalition.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: Pierre Poilievre has found a new seat to run in, the riding of Battle River—Crowfoot in Alberta, previously held by Damien Kurek, who resigned last Friday to allow Poilievre to run in a by-election.

This all came before the Conservative caucus meeting scheduled for today. Do you think he should have waited until after Tuesday’s caucus meeting, where he would have a chance to consult his team and have them weigh in, before choosing to run in the seat?

JAMIL JIVANI: No. Look, as leader of our party, he’s got to make decisions. He’s trying to keep our party and all of our MPs focused on why we were elected. So I think it makes sense to push forward. I think Damien Kurek made a decision that will be good for the country, good for our party, and good for keeping our country focused on the people, not allowing the politics to be a distraction.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: On election night, you gave an interview to CBC in which you criticized Ontario Premier Doug Ford as an “opportunist” who is “not doing a good job running Ontario” and is “a problem for the province.” You also posted a meme on X, labelling Ford a Liberal. You don’t often see federal Conservative MPs openly criticize their conservative premiers. Why did you feel the need to speak out the way you did?

JAMIL JIVANI: I feel like one of the reasons this has gotten so much reaction is because I was telling the truth. Over the course of the campaign, Doug Ford went out of his way to discourage federal Conservatives, to criticize our campaign, to be a distraction. I was working with volunteers, like we all were, across Canada, who poured everything they had into this campaign. They gave up their time, in some cases took time away from work and their families, to try to make Pierre Poilievre prime minister. For them to see Doug Ford undermining Pierre was heartbreaking, and I felt like I needed to make a point, which is that, when Doug Ford went through his [provincial] election, I didn’t comment out of respect. I said, “That’s your provincial thing, you do your thing.” Yes, I have strong opinions on provincial policies, but I kept them to myself during their campaign. I think Doug Ford owed us the same respect, and he didn’t give it to us.

He can be a bully, and I think sometimes you just have to stand up to a bully. People have asked me, “Why did you do this? Is this a good thing for you? What if Doug Ford comes after you? They’re saying mean things about you on Twitter.” My answer to everybody is: sometimes you just have to stand up to a bully. It’s not that complicated. I hope he thinks about what he did, I really do. Maybe we’ll see something different from him. Maybe we won’t. But as I said, sometimes you just have to stand up to a bully. They need to know they can’t just treat people this way and get away with it.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: Do you think Doug Ford was more damaging to the Conservative Party’s chances than Mark Carney or even Donald Trump at times?

JAMIL JIVANI: I think there were a lot of reasons why the election played out the way it did. The reason this is getting attention is because no one else had said anything about Ford. We had all watched him do this for weeks. I felt like someone needed to say something, so I did. I think that’s what my constituents expect from me. They elected me knowing I’m someone who will stand up for what I believe in, listen to my constituents, and be a voice for their concerns.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: You are known for being close friends with Vice President JD Vance. You once referred to him as a “brother from another mother.” Relations between Canada and the United States have been strained in recent months, amidst Trump’s tariffs and talk of a 51st state. Have you been staying in contact with JD during these times?

JAMIL JIVANI: We’ve talked a few times over the course of the last several months, and we keep it personal, asking about his family, asking about how I’m doing. We don’t really talk politics because we’re not on the same page politically. I think there are people who have friends with different political views all the time. In my situation, I look at it as: I want my country to be respected. I want my country to be strong. We have jobs in Durham Region that are being upended by the threat of tariffs, including in our auto industry. I’m focused on what I can do for Canada. What they’re doing in the U.S., I would like for us to be untethered from them. I want us to be strong and independent, and for another country not to be able to have this kind of impact on our families and on our economy.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: What will be your top priority heading into this new Parliamentary session?

JAMIL JIVANI: The biggest priority is making sure the issues that my community cares about are going to get attention in Parliament. You know whether it’s housing affordability, crime, immigration, lots of different issues that we heard about, knocking on doors every day for the last month and a half. I want to make sure that these things don’t get worse, as you know. And certainly we will be in a position to hold the Liberal government accountable if they continue down the path that they’ve been on for 10 years. And we will introduce ideas and legislation and petitions trying to get change in Ottawa, and that’s what we’re elected to do, and that’s what we will continue to do.

[The top two issues we heard at the doors] were affordability and crime. That stuff came up a lot. Affordability is the housing issue. It’s the economic uncertainty with things like tariffs, people wanting to feel like there’s a plan to strengthen our economy, and bringing Canada to a place where working hard gets you ahead.

ÉLIE CANTIN-NANTEL: Is there anything else that you would like to say or add?

JAMIL JIVANI: One thing I’d like to underscore is how many young people got involved in this campaign and how many young people really put their hope into this election, hoping it would produce change. I want to encourage anyone who got involved, got into politics for the first time, voted for the first time, or felt committed for the first time: Don’t give up. Please stay involved. Stay engaged. We need young people to keep having their voices heard. I encourage any young person reading this to know: we see you, we appreciate you, and we’re here to fight for you.

This conversation has been revised and edited for length and clarity.

Élie Cantin-Nantel was a youth leader with the Canada Strong and Free Network during Jivani’s time as the network’s president.