Long lines at polling stations across Canada as advance voting begins
By The Canadian Press
April 18, 2025
By The Canadian Press
April 18, 2025
Elections Canada signage is pictured near an advance polling station in Ottawa, on Friday, April 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)
OTTAWA — Canadians packed polling stations and stood in long lineups in cities across the country on Friday as advance voting in the upcoming federal election officially got underway.
A queue snaked outside the voting centre on Smythe Street in Fredericton, as people waited, some with their dogs, others with young children in strollers or holding their parents’ hands.
Some were in line for more than 45 minutes to cast their vote on a sunny and cool spring afternoon.
“It feels more important to vote and make sure we keep having the country that we want,” said Nicole Bent, who is going to Nova Scotia for a few weeks and decided to vote early so she didn’t miss the chance to cast her ballot.
Bent said the election feels different this time because of recent actions and statements from United States President Donald Trump.
She voted Liberal.
“It’s voting for the man, not the party. Which man we want in there,” said Bent, referring to party leader Mark Carney.
Mark Kunkle, who also voted in Fredericton, said he runs his own business and the first day of voting seemed like a quiet and good day to go to the polls.
“Well, all elections are important, but in this particular case, it’s pretty, pretty important because the future (of the country) is going to be decided,” said Kunkle, who came to the poll with his dog.
Bill Randall, who said he’ll be voting Liberal, left the queue after seeing how long it was. He said he would come back the following day.
“I really believe that Prime Minister Carney is the kind of solid thinking person who we need at the helm in this particular time, especially, and I am concerned about some of the policies or leanings of the Progressive Conservative leader,” he said.
But at an advance poll in Whitby, Ont., east of Toronto, retired police officer Guy Service said he hoped his vote could end ten years of Liberal government, which he blames for the housing crisis and restricting freedoms and rights.
“I saw a lot of people that were excited to vote for the first time, a lot of people that haven’t voted before, and even people who didn’t agree with each other kind of we talked about in line and, you know, no one beat each other up,” Service said of the ambience inside the polling station.
Jane De Guzman, who came to vote in Whitby with her husband, said she voted for the Liberals because of Carney, not the party.
She said he is an economist, not a career politician.
“I would like to give him a chance to try and prove himself,” De Guzman said. “I feel that he is the right person to defend Canada against all of Trump’s tariffs nonsense.”
Another Liberal voter, Matthew Gorman, was less concerned about U.S. threats.
“I think what we need to worry about most is less about what the U.S. is doing, and more about what we can do as Canadians to make our country better,” he said as he waited outside for his partner to finish voting while minding their three dogs.
Annette Virtue, from Woodstock, Ont., said she will be voting Liberal in this election. Virtue says she plans to take part in advanced voting this weekend in hopes of avoiding long lines.
Virtue said she voted early in the provincial election.
“It’s fast,” she said.
Tim Lobzun, who drove almost 50 minutes from Ingersoll, Ont., for a Carney rally in Brantford, Ont., on Friday evening, said he’s voting early just to cross it off his list of things to do.
“Just to get it over with,” said Lobzun, who is a longtime Liberal and who ran as a party candidate in the 2011 federal election.
Lobzun said the timing of his vote might be different if he wasn’t sure who to cast a ballot for, but he’s decided.
Meanwhile in East Vancouver, Rod Moore was in line for an advance poll on Friday afternoon. Moore said he wasn’t sure what to expect, but he showed up because he’s going to be working out of town on election day.
“It’s probably going to be a heavier turnout this year,” he said. “Because everyone’s paying attention.”
Moore said the “cross-border” situation has people in his community talking politics more than he’s ever experienced.
The riding’s been held by the NDP for decades, currently by Jenny Kwan, but Moore doesn’t think that a vote for the party this time around is a wise choice.
“I think voting NDP, forgive me for saying this to anybody that might find this offensive, is a waste of a vote because it’s a two-horse race, like, very clearly,” he said.
The line moved steadily into the hotel, with some voters saying they waited about 90 minutes and others beating the spring heat with ice-cream bars and slushy drinks from a nearby Dairy Queen.
In one Ottawa riding, voters will see an exceptionally long ballot in Carleton, where 91 names appear. The oversized ballot includes two columns of names listed alphabetically. The incumbent in the riding is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Elections Canada says it’s the second time that a ballot has had 91 names on it. The last was during a 2024 Montreal-area byelection in LaSalle--Emard--Verdun. Because of the number of candidates, Carleton results may take longer to report.
An Elections Canada spokeswoman told The Canadian Press that staffing levels are similar to those in past elections, but there are more advance polling locations this time than in 2021.
The advance polls run daily through the long weekend, including Monday, and are generally open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in each jurisdiction.
Voters will need to bring accepted forms of ID, which could include voter information cards, bank statements, drivers licenses or birth certificates.
People can also vote early at any Elections Canada offices any day before April 23, or vote by mail.
The deadline to register to vote by mail is April 22.
Elections Canada says once someone applies to vote by mail they cannot vote at advance polls or on election day.
Nearly five million people voted at advance polls in the 2019 election, and 5.8 million did so in the 2021 campaign.
Hina Alam and Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal. Hina Alam reported from Fredericton, Sharif Hassan from Whitby, Ont., Catherine Morrison from Brantford, Ont., and Darryl Greer from Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.
OTTAWA — Canadians packed polling stations and stood in long lineups in cities across the country on Friday as advance voting in the upcoming federal election officially got underway.
A queue snaked outside the voting centre on Smythe Street in Fredericton, as people waited, some with their dogs, others with young children in strollers or holding their parents’ hands.
Some were in line for more than 45 minutes to cast their vote on a sunny and cool spring afternoon.
“It feels more important to vote and make sure we keep having the country that we want,” said Nicole Bent, who is going to Nova Scotia for a few weeks and decided to vote early so she didn’t miss the chance to cast her ballot.
Bent said the election feels different this time because of recent actions and statements from United States President Donald Trump.
She voted Liberal.
“It’s voting for the man, not the party. Which man we want in there,” said Bent, referring to party leader Mark Carney.
Mark Kunkle, who also voted in Fredericton, said he runs his own business and the first day of voting seemed like a quiet and good day to go to the polls.
“Well, all elections are important, but in this particular case, it’s pretty, pretty important because the future (of the country) is going to be decided,” said Kunkle, who came to the poll with his dog.
Bill Randall, who said he’ll be voting Liberal, left the queue after seeing how long it was. He said he would come back the following day.
“I really believe that Prime Minister Carney is the kind of solid thinking person who we need at the helm in this particular time, especially, and I am concerned about some of the policies or leanings of the Progressive Conservative leader,” he said.
But at an advance poll in Whitby, Ont., east of Toronto, retired police officer Guy Service said he hoped his vote could end ten years of Liberal government, which he blames for the housing crisis and restricting freedoms and rights.
“I saw a lot of people that were excited to vote for the first time, a lot of people that haven’t voted before, and even people who didn’t agree with each other kind of we talked about in line and, you know, no one beat each other up,” Service said of the ambience inside the polling station.
Jane De Guzman, who came to vote in Whitby with her husband, said she voted for the Liberals because of Carney, not the party.
She said he is an economist, not a career politician.
“I would like to give him a chance to try and prove himself,” De Guzman said. “I feel that he is the right person to defend Canada against all of Trump’s tariffs nonsense.”
Another Liberal voter, Matthew Gorman, was less concerned about U.S. threats.
“I think what we need to worry about most is less about what the U.S. is doing, and more about what we can do as Canadians to make our country better,” he said as he waited outside for his partner to finish voting while minding their three dogs.
Annette Virtue, from Woodstock, Ont., said she will be voting Liberal in this election. Virtue says she plans to take part in advanced voting this weekend in hopes of avoiding long lines.
Virtue said she voted early in the provincial election.
“It’s fast,” she said.
Tim Lobzun, who drove almost 50 minutes from Ingersoll, Ont., for a Carney rally in Brantford, Ont., on Friday evening, said he’s voting early just to cross it off his list of things to do.
“Just to get it over with,” said Lobzun, who is a longtime Liberal and who ran as a party candidate in the 2011 federal election.
Lobzun said the timing of his vote might be different if he wasn’t sure who to cast a ballot for, but he’s decided.
Meanwhile in East Vancouver, Rod Moore was in line for an advance poll on Friday afternoon. Moore said he wasn’t sure what to expect, but he showed up because he’s going to be working out of town on election day.
“It’s probably going to be a heavier turnout this year,” he said. “Because everyone’s paying attention.”
Moore said the “cross-border” situation has people in his community talking politics more than he’s ever experienced.
The riding’s been held by the NDP for decades, currently by Jenny Kwan, but Moore doesn’t think that a vote for the party this time around is a wise choice.
“I think voting NDP, forgive me for saying this to anybody that might find this offensive, is a waste of a vote because it’s a two-horse race, like, very clearly,” he said.
The line moved steadily into the hotel, with some voters saying they waited about 90 minutes and others beating the spring heat with ice-cream bars and slushy drinks from a nearby Dairy Queen.
In one Ottawa riding, voters will see an exceptionally long ballot in Carleton, where 91 names appear. The oversized ballot includes two columns of names listed alphabetically. The incumbent in the riding is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Elections Canada says it’s the second time that a ballot has had 91 names on it. The last was during a 2024 Montreal-area byelection in LaSalle--Emard--Verdun. Because of the number of candidates, Carleton results may take longer to report.
An Elections Canada spokeswoman told The Canadian Press that staffing levels are similar to those in past elections, but there are more advance polling locations this time than in 2021.
The advance polls run daily through the long weekend, including Monday, and are generally open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in each jurisdiction.
Voters will need to bring accepted forms of ID, which could include voter information cards, bank statements, drivers licenses or birth certificates.
People can also vote early at any Elections Canada offices any day before April 23, or vote by mail.
The deadline to register to vote by mail is April 22.
Elections Canada says once someone applies to vote by mail they cannot vote at advance polls or on election day.
Nearly five million people voted at advance polls in the 2019 election, and 5.8 million did so in the 2021 campaign.
Hina Alam and Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal. Hina Alam reported from Fredericton, Sharif Hassan from Whitby, Ont., Catherine Morrison from Brantford, Ont., and Darryl Greer from Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.
Tom Mulcair: Some hard lessons learned by Carney and Poilievre from the English debate
By Tom Mulcair
CTV NEWS
Published: April 18, 2025
Tom Mulcair is a former leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017, and a columnist for CTVNews.ca.
Mark Carney largely resisted the predictable onslaught from his opponents during the English leaders’ debate on Thursday night.
He was helped by a boneheaded move by the hopeless Leaders’ Debates Commission that allowed fake news outlets into the room.
Any difficult patches Carney may have experienced were pushed to the bottom of the page in post-debate analysis, owing to the moronic eruption of right wing media that was supposed to help Poilievre. Instead, they unintentionally helped Carney by becoming the news.
Tom Mulcair is a former leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017, and a columnist for CTVNews.ca.
Mark Carney largely resisted the predictable onslaught from his opponents during the English leaders’ debate on Thursday night.
He was helped by a boneheaded move by the hopeless Leaders’ Debates Commission that allowed fake news outlets into the room.
Any difficult patches Carney may have experienced were pushed to the bottom of the page in post-debate analysis, owing to the moronic eruption of right wing media that was supposed to help Poilievre. Instead, they unintentionally helped Carney by becoming the news.
Post-leaders’ debate scrums cancelled due to security concerns
The major distraction caused by pro-Poilievre ‘independent media’ became the number one topic in headlines. Quebec’s largest circulation newspaper, the Journal de Montréal, even used an English word in a headline: “Shitshow.” (Full disclosure, I write a weekly column for the Journal.)
But Poilievre wasn’t alone in being hoisted by the petard of those who were supposed to be there to help him.
Somehow, someone in Carney’s camp came up with the bright idea of having him use his one and only question to Poilievre to try to corner him on the issue of security clearance.
Here’s a primer on that one: When Trudeau made an absolute shambles of the issue of foreign interference in Canadian elections, he was on the ropes like never before. It was, in my view, the beginning of the end of his time as prime minister.
Trudeau’s elves had cobbled together their big ‘Aha!’ riposte against Poilievre. They attacked him for not applying for and receiving a security clearance to be allowed to view the ‘evidence’ about MPs who might be involved in helping foreign powers stick their noses in Canadian politics.
It was a spurious attack and Poilievre was completely right, constitutionally and institutionally, to simply say no. He didn’t want his hands tied in any way and one of the conditions of looking at those files was that he would’ve been barred from talking about the information he’d been given.
All MPs are beholden to their voters. The Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has an even higher duty, that of holding the government to account. Poilievre didn’t want to compromise that obligation and, in my view, correctly refused.
Of those who accepted, Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh notably spoke about what they, respectively, hadn’t and had seen in the reports. So much for deep secrets.
The major distraction caused by pro-Poilievre ‘independent media’ became the number one topic in headlines. Quebec’s largest circulation newspaper, the Journal de Montréal, even used an English word in a headline: “Shitshow.” (Full disclosure, I write a weekly column for the Journal.)
But Poilievre wasn’t alone in being hoisted by the petard of those who were supposed to be there to help him.
Somehow, someone in Carney’s camp came up with the bright idea of having him use his one and only question to Poilievre to try to corner him on the issue of security clearance.
Here’s a primer on that one: When Trudeau made an absolute shambles of the issue of foreign interference in Canadian elections, he was on the ropes like never before. It was, in my view, the beginning of the end of his time as prime minister.
Trudeau’s elves had cobbled together their big ‘Aha!’ riposte against Poilievre. They attacked him for not applying for and receiving a security clearance to be allowed to view the ‘evidence’ about MPs who might be involved in helping foreign powers stick their noses in Canadian politics.
It was a spurious attack and Poilievre was completely right, constitutionally and institutionally, to simply say no. He didn’t want his hands tied in any way and one of the conditions of looking at those files was that he would’ve been barred from talking about the information he’d been given.
All MPs are beholden to their voters. The Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has an even higher duty, that of holding the government to account. Poilievre didn’t want to compromise that obligation and, in my view, correctly refused.
Of those who accepted, Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh notably spoke about what they, respectively, hadn’t and had seen in the reports. So much for deep secrets.
Complete coverage of federal election 2025
It’s worth noting that after stonewalling and trying to hand the stinking mess off to former GG David Johnston, Trudeau was finally forced to create a Commission of inquiry under Mme. Justice Hogue. She had access to everything and her report warned of potential dangers, but was markedly short on specific cases of skullduggery by MPs.
I have a particular take on all of this having been opposition leader for several years during Stephen Harper’s majority government.
Harper was a tough cookie but he also understood and respected parliamentary traditions.
When there were serious security issues that were brewing, he’d follow a longstanding practice and (wait for it…) talk to me!
I didn’t need to be told it was secret, the prime minister had reached out to share information so I could carry out my role as the security issue rolled out. That’s how the game is supposed to be played.
Poilievre was able to rebut the question and its implications about his loyalty to our institutions. His answer included a reference to my publicly stated position on this issue, which I’ve held since day one.
Both Carney and Poilievre learned a tough lesson during the English debate. Be wary of sycophants who want to curry favour with their very bad ideas.
It’s worth noting that after stonewalling and trying to hand the stinking mess off to former GG David Johnston, Trudeau was finally forced to create a Commission of inquiry under Mme. Justice Hogue. She had access to everything and her report warned of potential dangers, but was markedly short on specific cases of skullduggery by MPs.
I have a particular take on all of this having been opposition leader for several years during Stephen Harper’s majority government.
Harper was a tough cookie but he also understood and respected parliamentary traditions.
When there were serious security issues that were brewing, he’d follow a longstanding practice and (wait for it…) talk to me!
I didn’t need to be told it was secret, the prime minister had reached out to share information so I could carry out my role as the security issue rolled out. That’s how the game is supposed to be played.
Poilievre was able to rebut the question and its implications about his loyalty to our institutions. His answer included a reference to my publicly stated position on this issue, which I’ve held since day one.
Both Carney and Poilievre learned a tough lesson during the English debate. Be wary of sycophants who want to curry favour with their very bad ideas.
Contributor
Carney platform promises $130B in new spending, deficits until 2029
By Mike Le Couteur
April 19, 2025
By Mike Le Couteur
April 19, 2025
Liberal Leader Mark Carney is greeted by supporters prior to departing from Montreal, Friday, April 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
Mark Carney’s plan for Canada includes $130 billion in new spending which will see the country run deficits until at least the fiscal year 2028-2029.
Entitled “Unite, Secure, Protect, Build”-- the platform also commits more than $18 billion of spending on national defence, putting Canada on track to “exceed our NATO target by the year 2030,” according to policy experts who briefed reporters.
Part of those expenditures include new submarines and additional icebreakers for the Royal Canadian Navy, and the purchase of “Canadian-made airborne early warning and control aircraft.”
Here is total deficit breakdown:2025-26: $62.3B
2026-27: $59.9B
2027-28: $54.8B
2028-29: $47.8B
The Liberal platform does show a $222 million surplus in the operating budget at the end of the four-year term, as promised by Carney. The Liberal leader contends these measures will “grow our economy and offset the impacts of Trump’s tariffs,” according to the Liberal platform document.
A government led by Mark Carney promises to prioritize Canadian contractors in defence procurement – including the Canadian Aerospace industry. The Liberals also promise to “Establish Buy Canadian” standards for federal infrastructure funding while also maximizing Canadian steel, aluminum, and forestry products.
As the tariff war with the United States looms large over this federal election, U.S. President Donald Trump’s name appears eight times in the Liberal platform, a nod to the persistent threat posed by tariffs from the U.S.
Carney is also promising to protect Canada’s agriculture industry by promising to exclude all supply-managed sectors out of trade negotiations with the U.S. The Liberals say this will help protect Canadian jobs in those sectors including dairy, poultry, and eggs.
Health care will also see significant investments with $5.4 billion over four years, $4 billion of which will be spent on infrastructure. According to the platform the money will be spent to build hospitals, clinics and renovate community health care infrastructure.
“It’s time to build hospitals so that Canadians have access to the care they need,” says the platform. While health care is a provincial jurisdiction, a Carney government pledges to work with provincial and territorial governments to accelerate the work and “cost-share these investments”.
A Carney-led government promises to also add “thousands of new doctors to Canada’s health care system” by increasing medical school and residency spaces while also building new medical schools.
The Liberals also pledge to work with provinces and territories to streamline the credential recognition system for internally trained doctors and nurses “so that qualified health care professionals already living here can contribute to our health care system,” according to the platform.Complete coverage of federal election 2025
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is also expected to release a fully costed platform Saturday, in British Columbia. Friday in Quebec, Singh announced his platform which, targeting that province, includes plans for an east-west clean electricity power grid.
Singh also said he’d safeguard Canada’s supply-managed dairy industry and promised not to build a pipeline through Quebec without provincial consent.
While Pierre Poilievre did present what he called a “New Canada First Economic Action Plan” last week in St. Catharines, Ont., spokesperson for the Conservative party Sam Lilly told CTV News they would be releasing their platform “in the coming days.”
The Conservative Party did post a video of former prime minister Stephen Harper offering an endorsement of Poilievre.
In it, Harper says “the two men running to lead us both worked for me, and my choice, unequivocally, is Pierre Poilievre.”
The current Conservative leader was a minister under Harper and Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada while was prime minister between 2008 and 2013.
The Bloc Quebecois was the first party to release its full platform five days into the federal election campaign. In it, the separatist party said before ratifying, any text of a free trade agreement should have to face a vote in the House of Commons. The Bloc said it would introduce a private member’s bill demanding such a vote. The policy highlights that it’s necessary with the threats posed by tariffs from the U.S.
With files from CTV News national correspondent Jeremie Charron
Mike Le Couteur
Senior Political Correspondent, CTV National News
Mark Carney’s plan for Canada includes $130 billion in new spending which will see the country run deficits until at least the fiscal year 2028-2029.
Entitled “Unite, Secure, Protect, Build”-- the platform also commits more than $18 billion of spending on national defence, putting Canada on track to “exceed our NATO target by the year 2030,” according to policy experts who briefed reporters.
Part of those expenditures include new submarines and additional icebreakers for the Royal Canadian Navy, and the purchase of “Canadian-made airborne early warning and control aircraft.”
Here is total deficit breakdown:2025-26: $62.3B
2026-27: $59.9B
2027-28: $54.8B
2028-29: $47.8B
The Liberal platform does show a $222 million surplus in the operating budget at the end of the four-year term, as promised by Carney. The Liberal leader contends these measures will “grow our economy and offset the impacts of Trump’s tariffs,” according to the Liberal platform document.
A government led by Mark Carney promises to prioritize Canadian contractors in defence procurement – including the Canadian Aerospace industry. The Liberals also promise to “Establish Buy Canadian” standards for federal infrastructure funding while also maximizing Canadian steel, aluminum, and forestry products.
As the tariff war with the United States looms large over this federal election, U.S. President Donald Trump’s name appears eight times in the Liberal platform, a nod to the persistent threat posed by tariffs from the U.S.
Carney is also promising to protect Canada’s agriculture industry by promising to exclude all supply-managed sectors out of trade negotiations with the U.S. The Liberals say this will help protect Canadian jobs in those sectors including dairy, poultry, and eggs.
Health care will also see significant investments with $5.4 billion over four years, $4 billion of which will be spent on infrastructure. According to the platform the money will be spent to build hospitals, clinics and renovate community health care infrastructure.
“It’s time to build hospitals so that Canadians have access to the care they need,” says the platform. While health care is a provincial jurisdiction, a Carney government pledges to work with provincial and territorial governments to accelerate the work and “cost-share these investments”.
A Carney-led government promises to also add “thousands of new doctors to Canada’s health care system” by increasing medical school and residency spaces while also building new medical schools.
The Liberals also pledge to work with provinces and territories to streamline the credential recognition system for internally trained doctors and nurses “so that qualified health care professionals already living here can contribute to our health care system,” according to the platform.Complete coverage of federal election 2025
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is also expected to release a fully costed platform Saturday, in British Columbia. Friday in Quebec, Singh announced his platform which, targeting that province, includes plans for an east-west clean electricity power grid.
Singh also said he’d safeguard Canada’s supply-managed dairy industry and promised not to build a pipeline through Quebec without provincial consent.
While Pierre Poilievre did present what he called a “New Canada First Economic Action Plan” last week in St. Catharines, Ont., spokesperson for the Conservative party Sam Lilly told CTV News they would be releasing their platform “in the coming days.”
The Conservative Party did post a video of former prime minister Stephen Harper offering an endorsement of Poilievre.
In it, Harper says “the two men running to lead us both worked for me, and my choice, unequivocally, is Pierre Poilievre.”
The current Conservative leader was a minister under Harper and Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada while was prime minister between 2008 and 2013.
The Bloc Quebecois was the first party to release its full platform five days into the federal election campaign. In it, the separatist party said before ratifying, any text of a free trade agreement should have to face a vote in the House of Commons. The Bloc said it would introduce a private member’s bill demanding such a vote. The policy highlights that it’s necessary with the threats posed by tariffs from the U.S.
With files from CTV News national correspondent Jeremie Charron
Mike Le Couteur
Senior Political Correspondent, CTV National News
‘Relentless’: The combative Pierre Poilievre finds himself in the fight of his life
By The Canadian Press
April 19, 2025
By The Canadian Press
April 19, 2025
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre waves with his family before boarding his campaign plane at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn
OTTAWA — It’s a Monday evening in an industrial building just south of Edmonton. Pierre Poilievre is on stage, surrounded by a massive crowd of supporters.
He’s been talking for nearly an hour and his speech is hitting some of his biggest applause lines.
“What binds us together is the Canadian promise that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, that if you work hard, you can have a great life in a beautiful home on a safe street under our proud flag. That is the promise that I hold out as hope to those who are on the brink of giving up,” he says.
He thrusts a fist into the air as he ends with, “Canada first, let’s bring it home!” The crowd cheers and the music swells as Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, pops up on the stage to kiss him.
An almost identical scene plays out on a Tuesday evening in industrial Hamilton. A Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg. A Monday in Fredericton. A Thursday in Oshawa.
Poilievre has made these rallies a fixture of his leadership of the Conservative party since he took over in late 2022, and a central part of his election campaign.
He’s polished and smooth, feeding off the energy of the crowd. Some attendees are repeat rallygoers, while others are part of his sizable social media following. Most of them have heard the speech before.
It all seems a long way from the young man Tony Greco met some 20 years ago in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven.
Greco is an entrepreneur, a personal trainer, author and life coach. He’s not into politics.
Which is why, he said, he didn’t recognize “this geeky guy,” young and bespectacled, frequenting the smoothie bar at his martial arts studio as a local member of Parliament.
“I go, ‘MP? This guy? Like, he looks like he’s 12,’” Greco recalled in an interview.
Poilievre was elected to represent the riding of Nepean-Carleton in 2004. At 25, he and Andrew Scheer were the youngest members of the caucus. Fellow Conservatives took to calling him “Skippy.”
Greco said he invited Poilievre for a workout and quickly realized his appearance was deceiving — the guy was “relentless.”
“I’m like, man, this guy’s insane. It’s just crazy, because when you see him back in the day, you don’t think he’s that kind of guy,” he said.
That intense work ethic is one of the key forces behind Poilievre’s rise in federal politics, from parliamentary secretary to cabinet minister to party leader and, now, contender for prime minister.
On the campaign trail, Poilievre has made a number of references to time spent at the Greco family home while making an appeal to blue-collar workers and union members — like Greco’s father, Albino, who immigrated to Canada from Italy in the early ’70s.
Poilievre and Greco still see each other from time to time, though Poilievre is busy with his own family — his kids, three-year-old Cruz and six-year-old Valentina — and with work.
When Greco’s father was in his final days in the hospital a year ago, Pierre and Anaida surprised him by showing up. “I’ll never forget that for the rest of my life. It just goes to show you what kind of friend he is,” he said.
Poilievre often talks about his humble roots in Western Canada. Given up for adoption by his 16-year-old birth mother, he and his brother Patrick were raised by Marlene and Don Poilievre, Saskatchewan school teachers who had moved to Calgary.
He got involved in politics in high school.
At the 1996 Reform Party convention, he told a reporter why he supported the party. “I’m very concerned about the financial state of the country and think they’re the only ones who can fix it,” he said.
He came to Ottawa with his political ideology baked in and is proud he hasn’t changed his views in decades.
“Some people even dug up my old university essays, and I’ve been saying precisely the same thing the entire time,” he said in a December interview with right-wing influencer and psychologist Jordan Peterson.
In one of those essays — about what he’d do if he were prime minister — he laid out the ideas that have guided him through two decades in Parliament: giving citizens social, political and economic control over their own lives, getting government out of the way.
That strength of conviction may be a source of vulnerability now.
Poilievre’s slow pivot away from the election campaign he’d planned on — a campaign about the carbon price, affordability concerns and Justin Trudeau’s deep unpopularity — to one dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump and a global trade war happened as the Conservatives watched the 25-point polling lead they had in January melt away.
In their wide-ranging conversation in December, Poilievre told Peterson the Liberals had implemented a radical woke agenda influenced by the NDP, making the country “a hellscape.”
Now, he’s promising Canadians his government will keep dental care, maintain the $10-a-day childcare program and protect access to medical assistance in dying.
He’s saying all of this with a smile, though it sometimes seems forced.
Poilievre rose to success channelling voters’ anger at a government they saw as asleep at the switch while the cost of everything spiked.
His years of relentless attacks on Trudeau and the Liberal brand had an effect — it was clear by the start of the year that Canadian voters wanted change.
Fast-forward three months and it’s less clear that most voters want Poilievre.
Polls show many Canadians — women in particular — have a negative impression of him. Many feel he comes off as aggressive and angry. Some feel he’s too much like Trump.
“I think he is frequently angry on behalf of people who have been screwed over,” said Ginny Roth, who was Poilievre’s communications director during his leadership run in 2022.
“I honestly hope that he doesn’t ever abandon that ability to tap into people’s frustration.”
Roth, a partner at Crestview Strategy, said their first conversation was “so indicative of every conversation we would have subsequently, which is like, straight into substance. No pleasantries.”
Poilievre has brought a populist style of politics to the Conservative party, according to former prime minister Stephen Harper.
In an interview with a Florida-based podcaster in January, Harper said Poilievre has “caught the populist wave,” though he argued he’s a “much more orthodox conservative than Donald Trump.”
His ability to reach supporters on social media allows him to ignore or attack the traditional media, Harper said, adding that the media “are the real opponent.”
Poilievre’s office never responded to a request for an interview with him and Anaida for this story. Neither did Harper. Conservative incumbents and former ministers similarly ignored or declined requests to talk about Poilievre.
Fred DeLorey, chair of North Star Public Affairs and the party’s 2021 campaign director, said Poilievre’s strength is that “he’s a professional politician.” He is not, however, a statesman.
He’s often described as an attack dog, a political athlete who excels at the cut-and-thrust in the House of Commons.
Roth said Poilievre can “talk about pretty substantive, complex political policy matters in very plain language and in terms that people can connect with.”
That’s the style on display at his rallies.
Strategists say Poilievre has been very effective at courting the support of voters who tend not to back conservatives: newcomers to Canada and young people, especially young men.
Harper sees that as a generational shift, noting conservative politicians the world over have more support from young people than they did when he was prime minister.
Poilievre will need those voters to turn out at the ballot box.
Greco said there’s a simple reason why he thinks his friend will not only be the next prime minister, but a great one.
“He hates to lose,” he said. “He’s relentless. He’ll do whatever it takes.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2025.
Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — It’s a Monday evening in an industrial building just south of Edmonton. Pierre Poilievre is on stage, surrounded by a massive crowd of supporters.
He’s been talking for nearly an hour and his speech is hitting some of his biggest applause lines.
“What binds us together is the Canadian promise that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, that if you work hard, you can have a great life in a beautiful home on a safe street under our proud flag. That is the promise that I hold out as hope to those who are on the brink of giving up,” he says.
He thrusts a fist into the air as he ends with, “Canada first, let’s bring it home!” The crowd cheers and the music swells as Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, pops up on the stage to kiss him.
An almost identical scene plays out on a Tuesday evening in industrial Hamilton. A Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg. A Monday in Fredericton. A Thursday in Oshawa.
Poilievre has made these rallies a fixture of his leadership of the Conservative party since he took over in late 2022, and a central part of his election campaign.
He’s polished and smooth, feeding off the energy of the crowd. Some attendees are repeat rallygoers, while others are part of his sizable social media following. Most of them have heard the speech before.
It all seems a long way from the young man Tony Greco met some 20 years ago in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven.
Greco is an entrepreneur, a personal trainer, author and life coach. He’s not into politics.
Which is why, he said, he didn’t recognize “this geeky guy,” young and bespectacled, frequenting the smoothie bar at his martial arts studio as a local member of Parliament.
“I go, ‘MP? This guy? Like, he looks like he’s 12,’” Greco recalled in an interview.
Poilievre was elected to represent the riding of Nepean-Carleton in 2004. At 25, he and Andrew Scheer were the youngest members of the caucus. Fellow Conservatives took to calling him “Skippy.”
Greco said he invited Poilievre for a workout and quickly realized his appearance was deceiving — the guy was “relentless.”
“I’m like, man, this guy’s insane. It’s just crazy, because when you see him back in the day, you don’t think he’s that kind of guy,” he said.
That intense work ethic is one of the key forces behind Poilievre’s rise in federal politics, from parliamentary secretary to cabinet minister to party leader and, now, contender for prime minister.
On the campaign trail, Poilievre has made a number of references to time spent at the Greco family home while making an appeal to blue-collar workers and union members — like Greco’s father, Albino, who immigrated to Canada from Italy in the early ’70s.
Poilievre and Greco still see each other from time to time, though Poilievre is busy with his own family — his kids, three-year-old Cruz and six-year-old Valentina — and with work.
When Greco’s father was in his final days in the hospital a year ago, Pierre and Anaida surprised him by showing up. “I’ll never forget that for the rest of my life. It just goes to show you what kind of friend he is,” he said.
Poilievre often talks about his humble roots in Western Canada. Given up for adoption by his 16-year-old birth mother, he and his brother Patrick were raised by Marlene and Don Poilievre, Saskatchewan school teachers who had moved to Calgary.
He got involved in politics in high school.
At the 1996 Reform Party convention, he told a reporter why he supported the party. “I’m very concerned about the financial state of the country and think they’re the only ones who can fix it,” he said.
He came to Ottawa with his political ideology baked in and is proud he hasn’t changed his views in decades.
“Some people even dug up my old university essays, and I’ve been saying precisely the same thing the entire time,” he said in a December interview with right-wing influencer and psychologist Jordan Peterson.
In one of those essays — about what he’d do if he were prime minister — he laid out the ideas that have guided him through two decades in Parliament: giving citizens social, political and economic control over their own lives, getting government out of the way.
That strength of conviction may be a source of vulnerability now.
Poilievre’s slow pivot away from the election campaign he’d planned on — a campaign about the carbon price, affordability concerns and Justin Trudeau’s deep unpopularity — to one dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump and a global trade war happened as the Conservatives watched the 25-point polling lead they had in January melt away.
In their wide-ranging conversation in December, Poilievre told Peterson the Liberals had implemented a radical woke agenda influenced by the NDP, making the country “a hellscape.”
Now, he’s promising Canadians his government will keep dental care, maintain the $10-a-day childcare program and protect access to medical assistance in dying.
He’s saying all of this with a smile, though it sometimes seems forced.
Poilievre rose to success channelling voters’ anger at a government they saw as asleep at the switch while the cost of everything spiked.
His years of relentless attacks on Trudeau and the Liberal brand had an effect — it was clear by the start of the year that Canadian voters wanted change.
Fast-forward three months and it’s less clear that most voters want Poilievre.
Polls show many Canadians — women in particular — have a negative impression of him. Many feel he comes off as aggressive and angry. Some feel he’s too much like Trump.
“I think he is frequently angry on behalf of people who have been screwed over,” said Ginny Roth, who was Poilievre’s communications director during his leadership run in 2022.
“I honestly hope that he doesn’t ever abandon that ability to tap into people’s frustration.”
Roth, a partner at Crestview Strategy, said their first conversation was “so indicative of every conversation we would have subsequently, which is like, straight into substance. No pleasantries.”
Poilievre has brought a populist style of politics to the Conservative party, according to former prime minister Stephen Harper.
In an interview with a Florida-based podcaster in January, Harper said Poilievre has “caught the populist wave,” though he argued he’s a “much more orthodox conservative than Donald Trump.”
His ability to reach supporters on social media allows him to ignore or attack the traditional media, Harper said, adding that the media “are the real opponent.”
Poilievre’s office never responded to a request for an interview with him and Anaida for this story. Neither did Harper. Conservative incumbents and former ministers similarly ignored or declined requests to talk about Poilievre.
Fred DeLorey, chair of North Star Public Affairs and the party’s 2021 campaign director, said Poilievre’s strength is that “he’s a professional politician.” He is not, however, a statesman.
He’s often described as an attack dog, a political athlete who excels at the cut-and-thrust in the House of Commons.
Roth said Poilievre can “talk about pretty substantive, complex political policy matters in very plain language and in terms that people can connect with.”
That’s the style on display at his rallies.
Strategists say Poilievre has been very effective at courting the support of voters who tend not to back conservatives: newcomers to Canada and young people, especially young men.
Harper sees that as a generational shift, noting conservative politicians the world over have more support from young people than they did when he was prime minister.
Poilievre will need those voters to turn out at the ballot box.
Greco said there’s a simple reason why he thinks his friend will not only be the next prime minister, but a great one.
“He hates to lose,” he said. “He’s relentless. He’ll do whatever it takes.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2025.
Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
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