On September 13, 2022, Rayes left the Conservative caucus following Pierre Poilievre's victory in the leadership race on September 10, 2022. Rayes said that his values were incompatible with the new leadership and that he self-identified as a "Progressive Conservative". He will continue to sit as an independent in the House. On September 14 2022, Rayes told the National Post that he suspected that Poilievre’s leadership team tried to intimidate Rayes by sending text messages to Conservative members of Richmond-Arthabaska in order to pressure Rayes into resigning his seat. Within the same day, the party admitted and apologized to the members of the riding by sending a tweet but not directly apologizing to Rayes. The day later, Rayes released a statement on Twitter noting the apology was not directed personally towards him but "will let the population judge their message" and wants to move on from leaving the party.
