Quebec MP Maxime Bernier's fledging political party says it has attracted former Conservative party riding executives from regions throughout his home province.
Bernier's People's Party says more than 20 officers from seven Conservative party riding associations in Quebec have resigned over the past month to join his cause.
The renegade MP who deserted the Conservative party in August has yet to file the necessary paperwork to register his party with Elections Canada, but is expected to do so next week.
If Conservatives are at all worried about Bernier's ability to lure Conservative members to his new party, they're not showing it.
Alexandre Meterissian, a former Conservative staffer now with the public affairs firm Hatley Strategy Advisors, says he's not reading anything into Bernier's apparent gains in Quebec.
Meterissian says most of the Conservative party executives who quit to join Bernier's party had worked or volunteered in ridings the Tories do not expect to win.