Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux Crosses Floor to Join Liberals

Member of Parliament Matt Jeneroux is the latest Conservative to cross the floor to join the Liberal Party.

“I am honoured to welcome Matt Jeneroux to our caucus as the newest member of Canada’s new government,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post on Feb. 18.

Jeneroux had announced in early November 2025 he would be resigning his seat, after having been rumoured to be contemplating defection. He now says he’s the one who recently reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office to cross the floor.

Jeneroux, the MP for Edmonton Riverbend, had made his resignation announcement shortly after his colleague MP Chris d’Entremont had left the Tory caucus to join the Liberals.

Jeneroux is now the third Conservative MP to join the Liberals in recent months, the other being Toronto MP Michael Ma.

Jeneroux said in a statement posted on social media that he decided to continue serving in Parliament and to work with Carney to “help build our country’s strength as we face challenges ahead.”

“The events of the past year, and even of recent weeks, have presented Canada with unprecedented new global pressures on our prosperity, and accelerated threats to our sovereignty and unity,” he said.

Carney made a last-minute change to his schedule on Feb. 18 while on his way to British Columbia to make a stop in Edmonton and meet with Jeneroux.

Jeneroux delivered a brief statement to media and said what made him change his mind about resigning was Carney’s speech in Davos, Switzerland, in January.

“It felt disingenuine [sic] and quite simply wrong to be sitting on the sidelines anymore so I reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said.

Tory Leader Poilievre reacted on social media, accusing the Liberals of trying to achieve majority status through “dirty backroom deals.”

“Matt Jeneroux has betrayed the people of Edmonton Riverbend who voted for affordable food and homes, safe streets, and a strong resource sector,” he said on Feb. 18.

Whereas d’Entremont said he had not been promised any portfolio when crossing the floor, Carney says Jeneroux will serve as “new special advisor on economic and security partnerships.”

First-term MP Michael Ma was not offered a special position after crossing the floor but was the only backbencher to accompany Carney on his China visit in January.

Carney noted in his statement that Jeneroux has held different roles with the Conservatives related to the economy and security, such as critic for supply chains, innovation, infrastructure, health, and housing.

“Matt’s leadership will contribute to strengthening Canada’s alliances and trade partnerships, advancing Canada’s leadership in global security cooperation, and building our strength at home,” Carney said.

Jeneroux had announced his planned resignation from Parliament on Nov. 6, 2025, two days after d’Entremont had crossed the floor. He said at the time he wanted put his focus “entirely” on his family. Jeneroux had not offered a date to resign his seat, only saying it would likely come this spring.

Poilievre at the time wished Jeneroux “all the best” and said he would leave the House of Commons in the spring.

“I want to be clear that there was no coercion involved in my decision to resign,” Jeneroux said at the time. Jeneroux was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015, after serving in the Alberta legislature.

Jeneroux’s defection sparked reaction from colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

Tory MP Matt Strauss said Canadians voted for change in the last election, whether they chose Carney or Poilievre to deliver it.

“We’ve been hurtling toward the cliff’s edge and Mark Carney has merely tapped the brakes instead of stopping and turning around,” said Strauss, noting ongoing issues like crime and the high price of food. “Matt Jeneroux’s decision today entrenches this ‘brake tapping’ approach to change, anti-democratically, possibly for three years.”

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather welcomed Jeneroux’s decision calling him a “wonderful parliamentarian” and said they have “always worked together to achieve pragmatic and centrist solutions.”

Movement in the House of Commons

Jeneroux joining the Liberals will bring the minority government to 169 seats, three shy of a majority.

The Liberals’ seat count has been unstable in recent weeks amid different developments.

Late last week, the Supreme Court nullified the results of the election in the federal riding of Terrebonne, Que., leading to Liberal MP Tatiana Auguste losing her seat. Auguste had won by a single vote in April 2025, but it was later discovered that a mail-in vote for the Bloc Québécois had not been counted due to Elections Canada printing a wrong return address.

Carney said on Feb. 17 that a byelection will be held “soon” in the Terrebonne riding.

Liberals also lost two other seats with former cabinet ministers and Toronto MPs Chrystia Freeland and Bill Blair leaving Parliament. Carney said byelections in those ridings, considered safe seats for the Liberals, will be held this summer.

With Jeneroux crossing the floor, the Carney government could be looking at securing a majority this summer if the Liberals are able to re-capture the Terrebonne riding, bearing no other defections or other developments in the House of Commons, such as a more resignations or a snap election call.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has said he’s seeking the nomination to run for the Ontario Liberals in the provincial riding that was vacated by NDP MPP Doly Begum. Begum has joined the federal Liberals to run as a candidate in Bill Blair’s former riding of Scarborough Southwest.

Jeneroux’s defection comes a few weeks after Conservative Party members threw their support behind Poilievre in his leadership review. Poilievre scored an approval rate of 87.4 percent at the party convention in Calgary.

While benefiting from broad party support, Poilievre has been trailing Carney by a large margin in federal polling on leader favourability. Liberals have also maintained a solid lead over Tories in most polls.