The Liberals are widely expected to secure a majority government after Monday’s byelections, following a historic string of five floor-crossers.

As we prepare for the votes, Liberal MPs at the party’s convention in Montreal blamed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s efforts to obstruct the work of the government for convincing members of caucus to cross the aisle.

Calgary MP Corey Hogan told iPolitics that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s singular focus on building has been a major motivating factor for floor-crossers — including latest recruit Marilyn Gladu — while the Conservatives’ tactics are “clearly fatiguing” their own members.

“We’ve got the prime minister, somebody who’s very interested in building, and that is going to draw a lot of Canadians in, whether they be people who traditionally supported the NDP or whether people who traditionally supported the Conservatives,” he said.

“I mean we all see the polls. We all know what the current state of things is. Canadians like this government’s approach, which is building and building in a responsible fashion… and that’s something I think you’re not seeing a lot of from the current Conservatives, who are a lot better at tearing things down and building things up.”

He called Poilievre’s tactics in the House — including forcing a vote last fall that highlighted parts of the feds’ pipeline deal with Alberta — as “drips in a bucket” that are turning away members of his own party.

“They’re sitting there… hearing about these games and these tactics, and here’s how we try to split people. And that’s not going to be very appealing to all of the members of the Conservative caucus. They’re going to want to see something more productive,” he said.

“You reap what you sow to a certain extent, and Pierre Poilievre has decided he’s going to ride a horse called division and distraction, and ultimately that horse is not going to get him across the finish line, and Canadians are looking for something better.”

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told iPolitics that Conservative MPs are hearing frustrations from their own constituents about the party’s tactics in the House.

Liberal MP Karina Gould told reporters on Friday that she believed the House has become far less dysfunctional than it was in the fall, when the Conservatives were lining up to oppose Liberal criminal justice bills and voted against the government’s budget.

Since that time, the Conservatives have changed course and backed the Liberal budget implementation bill, as well as supporting bail changes.

MacKinnon said the Conservatives are still slowing down the work of the government, including at committee, pointing to efforts from the Tories to slow passage of the Liberals’ anti-bill hate. The impasse over C-9 at the justice committee was only resolved after the Liberals moved a motion in the House to fast-track its passage, which won the backing of the Bloc Quebecois.

iPolitics reported earlier this month that there appears to be frustration from the Liberals on the slow pace of government bills in Parliament.

While having a majority in the House will give the Liberals the opportunity to change the composition of committees, the Senate is a different question.

Despite over a decade of Liberal governance, the lack of a government caucus in the Upper Chamber has made it tough to predict the results of votes in the Senate.

Senators have also not been shy about using their power to make changes to key pieces of government legislation. Most notably, the Senate voted to amend the government’s affordability bill to create a sunset clause on changes that exempted federal political parties from privacy laws.

That change was rejected by the House, and the Senate didn’t insist on its amendment.

Some sources suggested a recent report of Tom Pitfield’s potential appointment as the government Senate leader represents an effort to speed up passage of legislation in the chamber, citing complaints from the Liberal government on how senators are dealing with government bills.

READ MORE: Sources say senators planning to create sixth group as questions are raised about Carney’s vision for the Upper Chamber

Liberal MP Vince Gasparro said Carney’s focus on making Canada a “stronger country” is broadly appealing, but those joining the party understand they need to honour its values of fiscal discipline and social progressivism.

“Our party stands for the right to choose. We stand for tackling the climate crisis. These are values that are very public that we’ve had for many, many years, under many different administrations. These individuals and people in our party know this coming in.”

Gasparro added that MPs joining the party understand that it’s about supporting Carney’s effort to bring stability to an increasingly disruptive global environment.

Pollster Kyla Ronellenfitsch said the polls show that’s also a major draw for voters.

She said the polls have stabilized in the past months and most of them show a double-digit advantage for the Liberals.

Ronellenfitsch, president of Relay Strategies, said that Carney’s well-received Davos speech and his calming presence on the global stage is helping to attract supporters, with the number of voters calling for change down sharply from where it was even before last spring’s election.

“There was actually more of an appetite for change, and of course for some people maybe that change meant Mark Carney, but if you look at it now, it’s actually 56 per cent of Canadians choose a preference for stability versus for change,” she told iPolitics at the Liberal convention.

“I think things have felt chaotic. We know Canadians are feeling extremely anxious, and I think that there’s just been a returned level of calm and seriousness that I think the government has brought and there seems to be a lot of comfort.”