Barging into office, yelling from Conservative leadership ‘sealed the deal’ on defection: d’Entremont
MP says Conservatives felt like ‘part of a frat house rather than a serious political party’
D’Entremont says Conservative Party felt like a ‘frat house rather than a serious political paNova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont says the barging into his office and yelling from Conservative Party leadership "sealed the deal" on his choice to cross the floor of the House of Commons to the Liberals this week.
After d’Entremont’s musings over a possible defection were reported by Politico on Tuesday, the MP says Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin “barged” into his office, pushed open the door — almost knocking down his assistant— and yelled at him about “how much of a snake” he was.
“It really pushed me to a point where it’s like, 'OK, I guess my decision is made for sure now,'” he said in an interview on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday morning.
Describing the “negativity” and “beating up on someone else” coming from Conservative leadership, d’Entremont said, “a lot of times I felt it was part of a frat house rather than a serious political party."
The Conservative Party has denied d'Entremont's allegations.
Conservatives deny violence
"Chris d’Entremont, who established himself a liar after wilfully deceiving his voters, friends and colleagues because he was upset he didn’t get his coveted deputy speaker role, is now spinning more lies after crossing the floor. He will fit in perfectly in the Liberal caucus," a spokesperson for the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition said in a statement to CBC News.
D'Entremont told Rosemary Barton Live guest host Catherine Cullen that he's moved on from not getting the Speaker job and that the notion of floor crossing had been on his mind “for a long time, basically from the election.”
When asked if the Liberals suggested more opportunity, such as a cabinet spot, in exchange for his defection, d’Entremont said, “No, absolutely not."
He said he heard from several longtime supporters during the election campaign that they would not support him anymore because of the leadership style of the Conservative Party.
It got to a point, d’Entremont said, where he had to distance his re-election campaign from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. “We tried to stay away from pictures of the leader."
Growing discontent from his constituents, plus a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday, made his next moves clearer, he said — though he notes that he did not intend for the story to come out through a “passing comment” he made to Politico on the release day of the federal budget.
A second shot to the Conservatives
D’Entremont’s floor crossing has sparked questions about chaos and discontent in the Conservative caucus — which were only amplified when Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux announced his intentions to resign from politics just two days later.
According to a Liberal source, Jeneroux also met with Carney earlier this week.
Sources tell CBC News that former Conservative campaign manager Jenni Byrne, who has faced criticism for "toxic and angry" behaviour, has been involved in the party's efforts to quash any further floor crossings.
In a statement following his resignation, Jeneroux said he was not coerced by the Conservatives to resign.
Asked whether he thought Jeneroux was intending to cross the floor prior to his resignation, d’Entremont said, “I’ll let him tell his story.”
Will more Conservatives defect?
The Nova Scotia MP did say he believed “three or four” other Conservative caucus members were considering crossing the floor when he was deliberating over his decision to leave.
D’Entremont said Conservative MPs had some opportunities to speak to Poilievre over the summer to address any concerns over tone and leadership style.
The MP said he believed that Poilievre, through those conversations, would be changing his leadership style, but then when the fall session began, “it didn’t really seem anything was changing.”
While d’Entremont said he is happy with the decision he’s made, he hasn’t committed to running as a Liberal in the next election — or running at all, for that matter.
“I’m not sure at this point,” he said. “I'm 56, I need to spend some time at home maybe. So we'll talk that over with the family when the time comes."
Corrections
- In a previous version of this story, Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont told CBC News that Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin pushed d’Entremont's assistant aside. D'Entremont has since clarified his statement to CBC News, alleging that the Conservatives pushed open the door to his office, almost knocking over his assistant. The headline and article have been updated.Nov 09, 2025 2:47 PM AST
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Catherine Cullen
Conservative MP joins Canada’s Liberal government, moving Carney closer to majority government
The stunning twist brings the prime minister one step closer to a secure hold on the office until 2029.
By Mickey Djuric and Zi-Ann Lum
OTTAWA — A Conservative MP has crossed the floor to join Canada’s Liberal Party, moving Mark Carney one step closer to securing a majority government. The move reflects a concerted push from the Liberals to ensure Carney’s legislative agenda is safe until 2029.
“After serious consideration and thoughtful conversations with constituents and my family, I came to a clear conclusion: there is a better path forward for our country,” Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont said in a statement Tuesday. “Prime Minister Mark Carney is offering that path.”
Earlier in the day, d’Entremont told POLITICO he was thinking about crossing the floor, and that he would decide “in the next few days” after reviewing the federal budget.
Shortly after the story was published, he resigned from the Conservative caucus and joined the Liberal Party.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-caucus-budget-9.6970864
In damage control after 2 departures, Conservatives accuse Liberals of 'undemocratic' distractions
Scheer says Carney trying 'to cobble together a majority'
Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer held a brief media availability Friday morning in an attempt to redirect attention from the Official Opposition's internal crisis to the Liberal Party.
Instead, the senior Conservative was pelted with questions about Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux’s surprise decision to quit federal politics six months after an election. The move came two days after former Conservative MP Chris d'Entremont defected to the Liberals.
According to a senior Liberal source, Jeneroux met with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week.
“I guarantee you if you stop 100 people on any street in this country they are not interested in palace intrigue,” said Scheer, not long before walking off-mic after four minutes of questions.
Resigning Conservative MP is victim of Liberal 'pressure tactics,' Scheer says“We're not going to let Liberal sources distract from the budget.”
Political circles have very much been sent into a frenzy about what’s going on inside the Conservative Party and what shifting support could mean for Carney’s government to get bills, like the budget, passed through Parliament.
Budget week is usually a communications gold mine for opposition parties — especially when the government’s spending plan includes a $78-billion deficit. But the Conservatives have been knocked off message.
- Cross Country Checkup is asking: Is there anything wrong with floor crossing? How important is party loyalty to you? Leave your comment here and we may read it or call you back for our show this Sunday.
The same night Jeneroux announced he was leaving, the Conservatives’ first attempt to bring down Carney’s budget (through an amendment confidence vote) failed. A handful of Conservatives abstained.
Leader Pierre Poilievre has not held any public news conferences or scrummed with reporters and is now facing questions about his leadership and influence over his caucus.
At Issue | Is Pierre Poilievre’s leadership in trouble?After crossing the floor, d'Entremont said he was disaffected with Poilievre's leadership style and that some of his former caucus mates "are in the same boat.”
Conservative sources said Jeneroux was under pressure to stay on from some in the party. But in a statement Thursday, Jeneroux said coercion played no role in his decision.
Scheer accuses Carney of being 'undemocratic'
Former Conservative campaign manager Jenni Byrne, who is still an adviser to the party, has been involved in the party's efforts to quash possible floor-crossings, the sources said.
Scheer accused the Liberals of being the ones harassing Conservatives, speeding up Jeneroux’s decision to leave.
“The only rumours I've heard of intimidation and harassment are from Liberals badgering Conservatives in elevators and calling them at home,” Scheer said.
“All of this is an attempt to distract from Mark Carney's first budget, a terrible budget that is almost universally panned."
Asked whether Jeneroux can stay in Conservative caucus given his meeting with Carney, Scheer said he does “not take unnamed Liberal sources at their word.”
“Mark Carney did not receive a majority mandate from Canadian voters. Yet he's trying to cobble together a majority through undemocratic means with backroom deals and pressure tactics,” Scheer said.
There are no rules preventing floor-crossing in Canada, although it is a deeply divisive issue. The Parliament of Canada Act makes no mention of it and the House of Commons Procedure and Practice guide notes that “members are not obliged to retain that party label during the whole of their mandate.”
Scheer accuses Liberals of taking 'undemocratic' actions to get a majorityIn the early 2000s the federal ethics commissioner, Bernard Shapiro, cleared David Emerson, who jumped to the Conservatives just two weeks after winning his B.C. riding as a Liberal. Shapiro found no wrongdoing, but did urge Parliament to debate the ethics of floor-crossing.
“Fairly or unfairly, this particular instance has given many citizens a sense that their vote — the cornerstone of our democratic system — was somehow devalued, if not betrayed,” he wrote.
Both Liberals and Conservatives have enjoyed, and decried, when MPs switch affiliations.
In 2018, when he was the party's leader, Scheer posed with Leona Alleslev after she jumped from the Liberals to join the Conservative benches, calling out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership along the way.
Carney's post-budget tour took him to the Canadian Club in Toronto on Friday, where he was asked how many more seats he needed for a majority.
"Just a couple. So call your local MP if they're not a Liberal," he told the business-oriented crowd.
Tuesday's budget shows a deficit of roughly $78 billion. It includes some $141 billion in new spending over the next five years, which will partially be offset by some $51.2 billion in cuts or a total of $60 billion in cuts and "savings."
With files from Kate McKenna and J.P. Tasker
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D'Entremont booed at Remembrance Day ceremony in Annapolis Royal
Acadie-Annapolis MP Chris d’Entremont was booed while laying a wreath at the Remembrance Day service in Annapolis Royal on Nov. 11.
A week earlier, the MP crossed the floor in the House of Commons, leaving the Conservatives to join the Liberal caucus.
D’Entremont said people booed him before the service when he went to the bathroom at the Royal Canadian Legion Port Royal Branch 21. He couldn’t imagine they would do it during the service.
“But they did,” he said. “I just sort of under my breath said, ‘Not the place for it.’ This is a solemn event.”
Branch 21 president Angela Amero issued a statement Nov. 12 saying at least three people booed d’Entremont while he was laying the wreath, conduct that will not be tolerated in the legion. She called the heckling disrespectful.
“To those that booed Christopher d’Entremont at the service, we say shame on you,” Amero said. “You have ruined the day that we remember our fathers, sons, daughters, and grandparents that paid the ultimate sacrifice for the very thing that you seemed entitled to … the right to give your opinion.”
She said there is a time and place for political discord.
“A Remembrance Day service is not one of these times or places,” Amero said. “You not only disrespected the veterans in the building, the serving military members and the general public, but you disrespected the sacred service of remembrance that we were trying to accomplish.”
D’Entremont was upset the incident occurred.
“It makes me feel bad that I was there and sort of drew that in (to the service) in front of the legion members.”
D’Entremont has said he decided to leave the Conservative caucus because he had enough of the negativity.
“I know this is not a popular move,” he said. “I did it for the right reasons.”
D’Entremont said there are ways for people to contact him and have a discussion about the move, but to boo at a solemn ceremony was not right. He said no one who booed him approached him after the ceremony to discuss his decision.
D’Entremont said there’s been an outpouring of disgust in response to the boos and people doubling down in their support for him.
And he has no second thoughts about his decision a week later, noting most of the mean comments are coming from the side of the party he didn’t agree with.
“It just makes my resolve even stronger.”
Former d'Entremont staff member calls floor-crossing 'a slap in the face'
Brian Hirtle couldn’t believe his former boss was crossing the floor and joining the Liberals.
The Viewmount resident helped on all three of Chris d’Entremont’s federal election wins in Acadie-Annapolis. He worked for the Conservative MP and was the electoral district association president before retiring six months ago.
“I woke up from a nap and the phone lit up everywhere. It was all over the news that he was considering it,” Hirtle said, recalling the Nov. 4 bombshell. “I was as shocked as anybody.”
He called the d’Entremont’s decision “self-serving.”
“It’s a slap in the face to the residents,” he said. “It’s takes a village to get an MP elected. It takes a community of hard-working folks from Argyle to Long Point Road. It’s a team effort.”
He said that team was extremely proud to have been able to hold the lone seat in Nova Scotia for the Conservatives.
“We won that seat and Mr. d’Entremont gave it away.”
Hirtle said he and d’Entremont have been colleagues and friends, but isn’t sure what the interaction will be like the next time the two men cross paths.
Hirtle knows younger adults who supported d’Entremont in the April election – the first time they supported a political candidate.
“He feels very betrayed.”
Hirtle said he has heard at least one staff member has resigned and added d’Entremont’s decision will have a lingering impact in the riding for some time.
Hirtle said he could have respected d’Entremont if he wanted to support the Liberal budget and sit as an independent.
“We, in the rank and file, could live with that,” he said. “We just can’t live with that he sold-out our vote out to a philosophy that we don’t believe in.”
Welcome aboard
Kings-Hants MP Kody Blois said he and d’Entremont kept in touch as MPs for neighbouring ridings.
“I am looking forward to being able to work with him as a Liberal colleague, to be able to tackle the joint issues that might matter in Kings-Hants and Acadie-Annapolis,” he said.
One example would be the significant infrastructure upgrades coming to 14 Wing Greenwood. The base is in Acadie-Annapolis, but it impacts the whole region.
The two politicians would cross paths at various events or see each other while travelling back and forth to Ottawa. Blois said he teased d’Entremont that, “As a good red Tory, you should be with our team.”
“I always respected Chris’ work,” Blois said. “I think he is respected across party lines in Parliament.”
MLA days
Leo Glavine spent a lot of time trading questions with d’Entremont over the years. Glavine was the health critic when d’Entremont was Nova Scotia’s health minister and after Stephen McNeil’s Liberals won the 2013 election, the roles were reversed.
“We both had those opportunities to engage in strong debate and conversation,” said Glavine, who represented Kings West from 2003 to 2021. “I certainly appreciated the fact that we had a great respect for each other.”
Leo Glavine was a longtime MLA for Kings West. – File photoGlavine said he regarded d’Entremont as a true Progressive Conservative.
“You have to run for a party and run under a banner and a leader, but I certainly didn’t see Chris as in the strongest alignment with the current direction of the Conservative Party of Canada.”
Blois said he had Conservatives tell him on the doorsteps during the election in April they were voting Liberal because Liberal Leader Mark Carney represented the values they were looking for in a government.
“Chris d’Entremont is an example of an elected member who is coming to that same conclusion.”
2003 merger
Bill Casey served seven terms as the member of Parliament for Cumberland-Colchester between 1988 and 2019. He initially served with the Progressive Conservatives then the Conservatives following the 2003 merger with the Canadian Alliance.
He was expelled from caucus in 2007 for voting against the Harper government’s budget over changes to the Atlantic Accord. He was re-elected as an independent, retired and then was elected as a Liberal.
Casey said d’Entremont will find a role within the Liberal Party.
“He is a centrist politician. He’s not dramatically right, he’s not dramatically left. He’ll have no trouble fitting into the Liberals. I didn’t and Scott Brison didn’t,” he said, referring to the former Kings-Hants MP who crossed the floor to join the Liberals in 2003.
“The Conservative Party of Canada now is not the Progressive Conservative Party that we all started with. It’s completely different.”
Friendships
Casey acknowledge his decision did impact longtime relationships he had in the riding.
“It does change things and friendships do get strained, but you’ve got to do what you got to do,” he said. “You have to stand up for what you think is right and sometimes there’s a price to pay.”
Glavine wasn’t surprised by the move as much as the timing of the decision, as the budget was being introduced. The Liberals are now only two seats from having a majority.
“Chris took the strongest of stances and a bold move in moving to the federal party,” he said. “I see it more in line with his fundamental political beliefs.”
Some might wonder if there will be any animosity amongst Liberals who ran campaigns against d’Entremont over the years.
“It’s always difficult for the deeply partisan to sometimes accept that they would leave their party,” Glavine said.
But, he added, with the big issues facing Canada, including trade with the United States, it is important to work together for the betterment of the country.
Glavine also said d’Entremont will be able to bring up projects for the riding with cabinet ministers.
“When some of that emerges, Chris will be accepted I think (by) those who voted for him as a Conservative and those who voted against him as a Liberal.”
Did you know?
• Conservative candidate Chris d’Entremont raised $22,100 during the April election with the majority of the contributions being more than $200. Thirty-six people donated between $200 and $1,000, raising $18,350 for the campaign.
• Liberal Ronnie LeBlanc, who finished about 500 votes behind d’Entremont, raised $32,390. Thirty-nine people donated between $200 and the maximum of $1,750, raising $26,150
MP Chris d'Entremont's decision to join the Liberal caucus both welcomed and met with anger
Many say there should be a by-election to determine who should represent the Acadie-Annapolis riding now
In the April federal election, there was little separating Conservative candidate Chris d’Entremont from the Liberal vote in the riding of Acadie-Annapolis as the two sides were almost split down the middle.
D’Entremont won the seat with just 533 votes over the Liberal candidate Ronnie LeBlanc.
On Nov. 4, the day the Mark Carney government delivered its first federal budget, there was nothing separating d’Entremont from the Liberals, as the western Nova Scotia MP crossed the floor to become part of the Liberal caucus.
In a statement released on Nov. 4 by the Liberal party, d’Entremont said that “upon the presentation of the 2025 Budget, I informed the Leader of the Opposition, the Opposition House Leader, and the Speaker of the House of Commons that I had resigned from the Conservative caucus.”
The move was surprising and would have been even more shocking had it not been for a report by Politico earlier in the day stating that d’Entremont had said he was considering joining the Liberal party. The MP had said he would take a few days to decide after reviewing the federal budget.
Instead of days, however, it was only hours.
“After serious consideration and thoughtful conversations with constituents and my family, I came to a clear conclusion: there is a better path forward for our country — and a better path forward for Acadie-Annapolis,” said d’Entremont in his statement.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney is offering that path with a new budget that hits the priorities I have heard most in my riding, to build strong community infrastructure and grow a stronger economy,” d’Entremont said. “That is why I am joining the Government caucus.”
The following day, it was reported in the media that d’Entremont also said he left the Conservative caucus because he no longer felt represented by Pierre Poilievre’s leadership style and his ‘negative’ approach to politics.
Acadie-Annapolis MP Chris d’Entremont hands out Canada flags during
2025 Canada Day festivities on Yarmouth’s waterfront. TINA COMEAU
The move was advantageous to the governing Liberals as it put the government closer to securing a majority government. The government would need only two opposition votes to pass the budget bill, whereas a defeat of the budget bill would trigger another federal election.
“After five years of serving in opposition, the people of Acadie-Annapolis and all Canadians know that the moment we face today needs all of us to lead — not with complaint, but with confidence in a strong future,” said d’Entremont.
“This is an important moment for the country to come together, and I am looking forward to working with the Prime Minister to build the strong economic future that all our communities deserve,” he said.
Reaction within d’Entremont’s riding was mixed as people took to social media to express their views. There was anger and outrage, and there was gratitude and acceptance.
People who had voted Conservative in the riding just over six months ago used words such as ‘betrayal’ and ‘traitor’ in describing d’Entremont.
Others who didn’t vote Conservative in the last federal vote – largely because of leader Pierre Poilievre, they said – welcomed d’Entremont’s decision to join the Liberals as this was where their vote had been cast.
“Chris is now a Liberal. I have high hopes. He’s my MP,” wrote one Yarmouth County resident on Facebook. “Sadly, I could not support Poilievre with my vote in the last election, but now I can vote for Chris in the next one.”
“I have always admired Chris, but I couldn’t support a party with Pierre Poilievre as the leader. I’m glad he’s out from that … I’m good with this,” said Yarmouth County resident and riding constituent Audrey Vaughan.
“Although I will say that I always struggle when somebody crosses the floor to a different party. A big part of me always felt that there should be a by-election,” Vaughan added. “However, that being said, he has the right to do it. I know that Chris wouldn’t do it without thinking long and hard about it.”
Others were visibly angry with d’Entremont’s decision, saying he had been elected as a Conservative and that voters deserved to have a by-election in the riding now to determine who they want to represent them.
“Selfish, he’s a traitor to his voters,” wrote someone.
“What a turncoat,” wrote another. “What a way to disenfranchise your riding.”
From current and former politicians, there was also a divide.
“If Chris d’Entremont thinks the Liberals he opposed better represent his community, then I challenge him to prove it by resigning his seat to run in a by-election. Let’s see what his community thinks,” posted former South Shore-St. Margarets MP Rick Perkins, who was defeated by the Liberal candidate in the 2025 April vote. “But I know he does not have the guts to do that since this is about his bruised ego over the Speakers’ chair. It’s about him, not his community.”
The strong tone of Perkins’ post was a departure from when he and d’Entremont had worked closely together in the last Parliament on fisheries matters impacting southwestern Nova Scotia.
On his election night in April, d’Entremont had expressed disappointment that Perkins had not been re-elected.
Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont was all smiles while on stage with
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and then-MP Rick Perkins during a
2024 National Acadian Day concert at the Yarmouth Airport, which was
part of the Congres mondial acadien that the region had hosted. TINA
COMEAU
In the April 2025 federal vote, the riding of Acadie-Annapolis was the only federal riding in Nova Scotia to elect a Conservative candidate. The rest of Nova Scotia was painted Liberal red.
In more reaction on social media, Ontario MP Mark Gerretsen, as he welcomed d’Entremont into the Liberal fold, posted on Facebook, “It shouldn’t be a surprise that Conservative MPs are questioning the misguided director of Pierre Poilievre and choosing a progressive alternative by joining the Liberal party of Canada caucus.”
In a comment on that post, former Nova Scotia Liberal MLA Kelly Regan commented, “I sat with Chris in the Nova Scotia Legislature for 12 years. He is a progressive person and his decision makes sense.”
Meanwhile, Conservative Rob Batherson called d’Entremont’s decision to cross the floor, “The worst betrayal I have experienced in 30-plus years of politics.”
D’Entremont has had a long career in politics, winning every election he’s ever run in.
Prior to federal politics, d’Entremont was the provincial Argyle MLA for nearly 17 years before making the switch to federal politics.
In October 2019, he was elected MP for West Nova. In that election, his blue seat was also surrounded by a sea of red as, like in 2025, he was once again the only Conservative elected in the province.
He was re-elected in September 2021. In November 2021, he made history by becoming the first Acadian Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. After his 2025 federal re-election in the riding whose name had now changed to Acadie-Annapolis, he had hoped to be Speaker of the House in this Parliament. He didn’t get the backing from the Conservative caucus for the position, noted the Nov. 4 Politico article.
In the 2025 federal election, it had been anticipated that it would be a close race in the Acadie-Annapolis riding between d’Entremont and Ronnie LeBlanc, the Liberal candidate, given the federal Liberal party’s resurgence under the leadership of Mark Carney.
In the April 28 federal vote, it wasn’t until nearly 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, that the last poll was reported after an agonizing wait for the Acadie-Annapolis candidates.
With 216 of 216 polls reporting, d’Entremont had received 23,024 votes for 47.7 per cent of the vote, whereas LeBlanc had received 22,491, or 46.6 per cent of the vote – meaning only 1.1. per cent of the vote separated the two candidates.
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