OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rejected reports of disunity within his caucus — and trouble surrounding his leadership — in his first public comments since the defection of one of his MPs and the impending exit of another.

On Wednesday, a defiant Poilievre faced questions at a news conference in Calgary about former Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont, who crossed the floor to Mark Carney’s Liberals last week; the planned departure of an Edmonton-area MP early next year; and reports of division in his caucus over his leadership style.

When asked several times about those matters, Poilievre instead referenced, on four occasions, a speech d’Entremont delivered in the House of Commons in September, in which the Nova Scotia MP accused the Liberals of “out-of-control spending and m

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