Evan Weller, his wife, Amber-Dawn, and their three small children travelled for an hour and a half to attend Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s Monday night rally in Edmonton.

The couple had never been to a political rally before. But as they stood in a line that snaked around a cavernous warehouse south of the city, they said they felt compelled to go this time – citing concerns about cost of living and the country’s finances if Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s party form government again after the April 28 election.

“Everybody says, do something about your future,” said Mr. Weller, as he pushed a stroller along the sidewalk heading into the event. “You hear all the talk – and so might as well do something about it for once in your life.”

The Wellers were among the thousands who went to Mr. Poilievre’s rally in Edmonton, where attendees including families, veterans and tradespeople gathered to listen to the Conservative Leader’s vision for the future – and to loudly protest the Liberal record.

Mr. Poilievre’s rallies have become a fixture of his election campaign, drawing large crowds across the country, far surpassing those at Mr. Carney’s events.

The Edmonton rally was by far the largest, with Conservatives estimating between 10,000 to 15,000 people were in attendance. Alberta RCMP put that number slightly lower, estimating between 9,000 and 12,000 people were there, spokesperson Corporal Troy Savinkoff told The Globe and Mail.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper introduced Mr. Poilievre at Monday’s event, calling the election the most important decision that this country will make in decades.

But whether on-the-ground support translates into election victory remains unclear.

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Mr. Poilievre himself seems fixated on crowd sizes, asking journalists on the campaign trail what they thought of the rallies and for them to estimate how many people attended.

“This is a movement like we’ve never seen because people want change,” he told reporters Tuesday.

The Conservative Leader has focused his campaign on strengthening Canada through resource development, tax cuts and boosting skilled trades, arguing the country must alter its dependence on the United States in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

But at the rallies – where Mr. Poilievre gives a version of the same hour-long speech almost nightly – the largest cheers come for topics such as slashing carbon levies, kicking the CBC out of its Toronto headquarters to make room for housing, cutting foreign aid and a promise to promote “warrior culture – not a woke culture” in the military.

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Many people who showed up for the Edmonton event said it was their first political rally. They expressed skepticism about polls, as well as the media, and an almost disbelief that the Liberals could be elected for a fourth term.

Mr. Carney’s Liberal Party has seen a resurgence in the polls after the resignation of prime minister Justin Trudeau earlier this year. While the Conservatives were leading in the polls by up to 20 points heading into the election, the Liberal Party is now ahead, with Mr. Carney leading consistently on the issues of leadership and standing up to Mr. Trump.

But the race appears to be tightening in recent days, with the Conservatives starting to narrow the gap.

“Enough of the Liberals, enough of spending money we don’t have. Enough of an unbalanced budget, enough of our massive, massive federal debt that keeps building up and they just keep wanting to give handouts instead of figuring out ways to actually fix things,” said Sandra McIsaac, who waited in line alongside Rodrick Thomas before the rally began.

Mr. Thomas said the fact that Mr. Carney replaced Mr. Trudeau as Liberal Leader is a “smokescreen” to mask the underlying problems in Canada, and that many people no longer get their news from mainstream media.

“Poilievre is getting all the support. We’re making it too big to rig,” he said.

For Mike Zubkowski, who donned a white cowboy hat as he walked the industrial streets towards the rally, a Conservative government would lead to better representation for Western Canada in Ottawa.

“The track record of the Liberals has been an embarrassment to every Canadian,” he said. “In the West, we’ve been contributing our guts out. We respect and love to be Canadian, and the reciprocation just hasn’t been there.”

Still, he expressed concerns that Mr. Poilievre doesn’t appear to be leading in the race in Eastern Canada.

“Right now, we’re in an echo chamber,” he said. “What this is, is Alberta showing what matters to us. Now is it going to resonate across the country? Who knows? Probably not.”

Ms. Weller, who is now expecting her fourth child, said the rally was an opportunity to teach her young children about the political situation in Canada.

Her husband, too, added that he’s not sure the polls are accurately capturing Mr. Poilievre’s momentum.

“Usually, I feel like you can trust the polls. But if you look at what happened in the United States, I don’t know, is there something funny going on with them this time around?” Mr. Weller said.

“All we can do is hope.”