Canada PM Trudeau attacks new
Conservative leader as 'reckless'By Ismail Shakil - Global News
Pierre Poilievre speaks after being elected as the new leader of Canada's Conservative Party in Ottawa© Reuters/PATRICK DOYLE
(Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday attacked veteran lawmaker Pierre Poilievre, who was elected new leader of the opposing Conservative Party, for what Trudeau called "reckless" economic policies.
Poilievre, 43, secured 68% of his party's vote on Saturday to become the sixth Conservative Party chief since 2015, a period in which Conservatives have lost three elections to Trudeau.
Speaking at a meeting of his Liberal caucus in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Trudeau said he would be "calling out highly questionable, reckless economic ideas" and that "attacking the institutions that make our society fair, safe and free is not responsible leadership."
Poilievre's predecessor, Erin O'Toole, was ousted by the party in February after losing last year's election to Trudeau.
Related video: What’s next for Federal Tories as new leader electedDuration 2:57
Trudeau congratulates Pierre Poilievre on winning the Conservative leadership
While a new national election is not expected until 2025, pollsters view Poilievre-led Conservatives as a formidable opponent to the Liberals, especially if Trudeau, who has already been in office seven years, runs for a fourth time.
In parliament and during his campaign for leadership, Poilievre blamed Trudeau's economic policies and the Bank of Canada for stoking inflation, and he supported anti-government protesters who paralyzed downtown Ottawa in February.
He also promoted cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, as way to fight inflation.
Trudeau took a jibe at Poilievre's stance on cryptocurrencies, saying "anyone who followed that advice would have seen their life savings destroyed."
Cryptocurrencies have fallen dramatically this year.
Poilievre, speaking earlier, called on the government to rein in spending and pledge to not raise taxes.
"The cost of government is driving up the cost of living. A half a trillion dollars of inflationary deficits mean more dollars bidding up the cost of the goods we buy and the interest we pay," Poilievre said.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; editing by Steve Scherer and Cynthia Osterman)'Canadians are hurting': Poilievre says he'll
fight for the working class in first caucus
speech
Pierre Poilievre speaks after being elected as the new leader of Canada's
(Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday attacked veteran lawmaker Pierre Poilievre, who was elected new leader of the opposing Conservative Party, for what Trudeau called "reckless" economic policies.
Poilievre, 43, secured 68% of his party's vote on Saturday to become the sixth Conservative Party chief since 2015, a period in which Conservatives have lost three elections to Trudeau.
Speaking at a meeting of his Liberal caucus in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Trudeau said he would be "calling out highly questionable, reckless economic ideas" and that "attacking the institutions that make our society fair, safe and free is not responsible leadership."
Poilievre's predecessor, Erin O'Toole, was ousted by the party in February after losing last year's election to Trudeau.
Trudeau congratulates Pierre Poilievre on winning the Conservative leadership
While a new national election is not expected until 2025, pollsters view Poilievre-led Conservatives as a formidable opponent to the Liberals, especially if Trudeau, who has already been in office seven years, runs for a fourth time.
In parliament and during his campaign for leadership, Poilievre blamed Trudeau's economic policies and the Bank of Canada for stoking inflation, and he supported anti-government protesters who paralyzed downtown Ottawa in February.
He also promoted cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, as way to fight inflation.
Trudeau took a jibe at Poilievre's stance on cryptocurrencies, saying "anyone who followed that advice would have seen their life savings destroyed."
Cryptocurrencies have fallen dramatically this year.
Poilievre, speaking earlier, called on the government to rein in spending and pledge to not raise taxes.
"The cost of government is driving up the cost of living. A half a trillion dollars of inflationary deficits mean more dollars bidding up the cost of the goods we buy and the interest we pay," Poilievre said.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; editing by Steve Scherer and Cynthia Osterman)
'Canadians are hurting': Poilievre says he'll
fight for the working class in first caucus
speech
Social Sharing
'We know the problem — the cost of government is driving up the cost of living,' new Conservative leader says
THATS NOT THE PROBLEM IT'S THE FALLING RATE OF PROFITAND PRICE GOUGINGIn his first speech to caucus since winning the party's top job, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday his focus at the helm will be on holding the government to account for its perceived failings on the economy and inflation.
Poilievre — who spoke for roughly 10 minutes, sometimes to thunderous applause from the assembled MPs and senators — said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the governing Liberals are out of touch with the struggles of working people.
He said that, as the son of a single mother and the adoptive son of two school teachers, he comes from "humble origins" and can sympathize with the plight of Canadians struggling to get by.
The consumer price index rose 7.6 per cent in July over a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported last month.
While there may be an early sign in dropping fuel prices that year-over-year inflation has peaked, the costs of housing and other goods remain elevated. For the last several months, consumer price increases have continued to exceed the year-over-year increase in hourly wages.
Poilievre said during his campaign for the leadership that he met young people living in their parents' basements because of eye-popping home prices, blue collar workers who can't afford new boots for their jobs and single mothers who have cut back on the food they feed their families because of surging grocery prices.
"Canadians are hurting and it is our job to transform that hurt into hope. That is my mission," Poilievre said.
Poilievre called on Trudeau to stop increases to payroll taxes like Employment Insurance (EI) premiums and contributions to the Canada Pension Plan.
He also said it was reckless for the government to push through sizable hikes to the federal carbon tax — the levy on fuels will increase from $50 a tonne of emissions this year to $170 a tonne by 2030 — when people are "already suffering."
"I'm issuing a challenge to Justin Trudeau today. If you really care, commit today that there will be no new tax increases on workers, on seniors. None," Poilievre said.
"My commitment back is, to the prime minister and his radical woke coalition with the NDP: we will fight tooth and nail to stop the coalition from introducing any new taxes."
WATCH: Poilievre addresses Conservative caucus for the first time since winning leadership
In his first speech to caucus since winning the party's top job, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday his focus at the helm will be on holding the government to account for its perceived failings on the economy and inflation.
Poilievre — who spoke for roughly 10 minutes, sometimes to thunderous applause from the assembled MPs and senators — said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the governing Liberals are out of touch with the struggles of working people.
He said that, as the son of a single mother and the adoptive son of two school teachers, he comes from "humble origins" and can sympathize with the plight of Canadians struggling to get by.
The consumer price index rose 7.6 per cent in July over a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported last month.
While there may be an early sign in dropping fuel prices that year-over-year inflation has peaked, the costs of housing and other goods remain elevated. For the last several months, consumer price increases have continued to exceed the year-over-year increase in hourly wages.
Poilievre said during his campaign for the leadership that he met young people living in their parents' basements because of eye-popping home prices, blue collar workers who can't afford new boots for their jobs and single mothers who have cut back on the food they feed their families because of surging grocery prices.
"Canadians are hurting and it is our job to transform that hurt into hope. That is my mission," Poilievre said.
Poilievre called on Trudeau to stop increases to payroll taxes like Employment Insurance (EI) premiums and contributions to the Canada Pension Plan.
He also said it was reckless for the government to push through sizable hikes to the federal carbon tax — the levy on fuels will increase from $50 a tonne of emissions this year to $170 a tonne by 2030 — when people are "already suffering."
"I'm issuing a challenge to Justin Trudeau today. If you really care, commit today that there will be no new tax increases on workers, on seniors. None," Poilievre said.
"My commitment back is, to the prime minister and his radical woke coalition with the NDP: we will fight tooth and nail to stop the coalition from introducing any new taxes."
WATCH: Poilievre addresses Conservative caucus for the first time since winning leadership
Pierre Poilievre addresses Conservative caucus for the first time since winning leadership
Poilievre also offered another solution.
During his campaign for the leadership, Poilievre tried to tie the government's pandemic-era spending to inflation. With more money in circulation, the MP argued, the cost of goods has increased to meet surging demand.
The government has rejected these claims, saying the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are largely to blame for recent price spikes.
Poilievre also offered another solution.
During his campaign for the leadership, Poilievre tried to tie the government's pandemic-era spending to inflation. With more money in circulation, the MP argued, the cost of goods has increased to meet surging demand.
The government has rejected these claims, saying the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are largely to blame for recent price spikes.
'Pay-as-you-go'
Poilievre said that, if he's elected prime minister, he'll introduce legislation to force the federal government to offset every dollar of new spending with a cut to something else — a program he's calling a "pay-as-you-go" approach to budgeting.
Poilievre's plan is to essentially cap federal spending so it doesn't go much higher than it is now.
The legislation, if passed, would require the government to find money for new measures within existing budgets, rather than increasing debt and taxes to cover new costs.
"We know the problem — the cost of government is driving up the cost of living," he said, pointing to the nearly half-trillion added to the federal debt in recent years during a global health crisis. "The government should find a way to save one dollar for any new dollar spent. That's the proposal we're going to make."
Poilievre, a populist figure, said he wants to lead a country with "small government and big citizens ... [where] the state is the servant and the people are the masters."
Poilievre, who has a reputation as an attack dog in party politics, brought his wife and one of his children to the platform ahead of his Monday morning speech.
He warmly embraced his wife, Ana, who gave a well-received introduction to her husband at Saturday's leadership event. He also held his baby son, Cruz, who turned one year old today, and blew out the candles on a small birthday cake as a smiling caucus looked on.
While Poilievre had the backing of much of the caucus during his leadership run, he extended a hand to those MPs and senators who supported other candidates during the sometimes nasty race.
"No matter the candidates you support throughout the leadership race, no matter if you stayed neutral. I am grateful for your contributions. We're all together and we're all part of the great Conservative family," he said.
Quebec MP GĂ©rard Deltell, who backed former Quebec premier Jean Charest in the leadership contest, said he and others are ready to unite behind Poilievre.
"I think the message is Mr. Poilievre got a strong result on the first round so now he's the leader of every Conservative member of this party," he said.
"Inflation is the big issue of Canadians right now — we have to address it and Mr. Poilievre is the one to do that," he added. Detell continued to distance himself from Poilievre's campaign pledge to "fire" the Bank of Canada governor, however: "That's not where I stand on that."
Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who supported Brampton, Ont. Mayor Patrick Brown for leader before he was blocked from running, said she's happy with the clear result because it brings the party's revolving roster of leaders to a halt.
"I am relieved our war of succession is over and Mr. Poilievre received a crushing mandate and I think it's going to provide some much-needed stability to our caucus at a time when we need to focus, as the opposition, on holding the government to account," she said. "It's back to work for us."
Alberta MP Glen Motz said the leader's lopsided victory shows most Conservatives are onside with Poilievre's populism.
"We're not as divided as you'd think," he said, calling Poilievre a "consensus builder" who will work with some of the MPs who bristled at his style during the leadership race.
Poilievre said that, if he's elected prime minister, he'll introduce legislation to force the federal government to offset every dollar of new spending with a cut to something else — a program he's calling a "pay-as-you-go" approach to budgeting.
Poilievre's plan is to essentially cap federal spending so it doesn't go much higher than it is now.
The legislation, if passed, would require the government to find money for new measures within existing budgets, rather than increasing debt and taxes to cover new costs.
"We know the problem — the cost of government is driving up the cost of living," he said, pointing to the nearly half-trillion added to the federal debt in recent years during a global health crisis. "The government should find a way to save one dollar for any new dollar spent. That's the proposal we're going to make."
Poilievre, a populist figure, said he wants to lead a country with "small government and big citizens ... [where] the state is the servant and the people are the masters."
Poilievre, who has a reputation as an attack dog in party politics, brought his wife and one of his children to the platform ahead of his Monday morning speech.
He warmly embraced his wife, Ana, who gave a well-received introduction to her husband at Saturday's leadership event. He also held his baby son, Cruz, who turned one year old today, and blew out the candles on a small birthday cake as a smiling caucus looked on.
While Poilievre had the backing of much of the caucus during his leadership run, he extended a hand to those MPs and senators who supported other candidates during the sometimes nasty race.
"No matter the candidates you support throughout the leadership race, no matter if you stayed neutral. I am grateful for your contributions. We're all together and we're all part of the great Conservative family," he said.
Quebec MP GĂ©rard Deltell, who backed former Quebec premier Jean Charest in the leadership contest, said he and others are ready to unite behind Poilievre.
"I think the message is Mr. Poilievre got a strong result on the first round so now he's the leader of every Conservative member of this party," he said.
"Inflation is the big issue of Canadians right now — we have to address it and Mr. Poilievre is the one to do that," he added. Detell continued to distance himself from Poilievre's campaign pledge to "fire" the Bank of Canada governor, however: "That's not where I stand on that."
Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who supported Brampton, Ont. Mayor Patrick Brown for leader before he was blocked from running, said she's happy with the clear result because it brings the party's revolving roster of leaders to a halt.
"I am relieved our war of succession is over and Mr. Poilievre received a crushing mandate and I think it's going to provide some much-needed stability to our caucus at a time when we need to focus, as the opposition, on holding the government to account," she said. "It's back to work for us."
Alberta MP Glen Motz said the leader's lopsided victory shows most Conservatives are onside with Poilievre's populism.
"We're not as divided as you'd think," he said, calling Poilievre a "consensus builder" who will work with some of the MPs who bristled at his style during the leadership race.
Trudeau calls out Poilievre for 'questionable' ideas
Speaking to reporters at a Liberal caucus retreat in New Brunswick, Trudeau congratulated Poilievre on his victory and said he's willing to work with the Conservative leader on the country's challenges.
The prime minister also said he wouldn't hesitate to call out Poilievre for espousing what he called "highly questionable, reckless economic ideas."
"What Canadians need is responsible leadership. Buzzwords, dog whistles and careless attacks don't add up to a plan for Canadians," Trudeau said.
He criticized Poilievre for previously pushing cryptocurrencies as a way to "opt out" of inflation. The value of Bitcoin has tanked in recent months, wiping out billions of dollars of savings.
"Anyone who followed that advice would've seen their life savings destroyed," Trudeau said of Poilievre's crypto pitch.
WATCH: Trudeau speaks about the new Conservative leader's 'questionable' ideas
"Fighting against vaccines that have saved millions of lives, that's not responsible leadership," Trudeau said, referring to Poilievre's gestures of support for some truckers opposing Ottawa's vaccine mandate for cross-border travel.
On the sidelines of the Liberal retreat, a number of MPs said the party has to pivot to counter a new Conservative leader who mobilized hundreds of thousands of Canadians and captured a stunning 70 per cent of the popular vote in the party's leadership race.
Some said they would like to see the party adopt more centrist positions to counter Poilievre.
"We must return to a federal centre, centre-right party," said one MP, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified. "We need a government that is down-to-earth and less woke."
"Poilievre's party can't fill the centre," said another.
Speaking to reporters at a Liberal caucus retreat in New Brunswick, Trudeau congratulated Poilievre on his victory and said he's willing to work with the Conservative leader on the country's challenges.
The prime minister also said he wouldn't hesitate to call out Poilievre for espousing what he called "highly questionable, reckless economic ideas."
"What Canadians need is responsible leadership. Buzzwords, dog whistles and careless attacks don't add up to a plan for Canadians," Trudeau said.
He criticized Poilievre for previously pushing cryptocurrencies as a way to "opt out" of inflation. The value of Bitcoin has tanked in recent months, wiping out billions of dollars of savings.
"Anyone who followed that advice would've seen their life savings destroyed," Trudeau said of Poilievre's crypto pitch.
WATCH: Trudeau speaks about the new Conservative leader's 'questionable' ideas
"Fighting against vaccines that have saved millions of lives, that's not responsible leadership," Trudeau said, referring to Poilievre's gestures of support for some truckers opposing Ottawa's vaccine mandate for cross-border travel.
On the sidelines of the Liberal retreat, a number of MPs said the party has to pivot to counter a new Conservative leader who mobilized hundreds of thousands of Canadians and captured a stunning 70 per cent of the popular vote in the party's leadership race.
Some said they would like to see the party adopt more centrist positions to counter Poilievre.
"We must return to a federal centre, centre-right party," said one MP, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified. "We need a government that is down-to-earth and less woke."
"Poilievre's party can't fill the centre," said another.
Lethbridge reaction rolls in following Pierre
Poilievre’s landslide CPC leadership victory
Danica Ferris -
Lethbridge MP Rachael Thomas believes her party's newly elected leader will have success uniting the federal conservatives.
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre delivers a speech after he was announced as the winner of the Conservative Party of Canada leadership vote, in Ottawa, on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang© JDT
"He came out with 70 per cent support, so I would say that's pretty unifying in and of itself," Thomas told Global News on Monday.
Pierre Poilievre was declared the winner of the Conservative Party of Canada's leadership race on Saturday, receiving a resounding 68 per cent of the party membership's vote.
Read more:
Pierre Poilievre needs to move beyond Alberta roots to offer broad vision
In his acceptance speech on Saturday night, Poilievre didn't waste any time calling out the Trudeau-led Liberal Party of Canada.
"There are people in this country who are just hanging on by a thread. These are citizens of our country," Poilievre told the audience. "We are their servants, we owe them hope, they don't need a government that sneers at them, looks down on them, calls them names, they don't need a government to run their lives - they need a government that can run a passport office."
Video: Trudeau congratulates Pierre Poilievre on Conservative leadership win, criticizes ‘buzzwords, dogwhistles’
Thomas was a part of that audience on Saturday, and says the room was filled with optimism as they listened to their new leader.
"I can tell you that the room was full of excitement and energy and momentum," Thomas said.
"I think as a caucus we're looking forward to moving into the future behind a leader who we believe has vision and passion and the competency to lead Canada well."
Read more:
Trudeau criticizes ‘buzzwords, dogwhistles’ as Poilievre crowned Tory leader
The Conservatives were plagued with internal division under former leaders Erin O'Toole and Andrew Scheer. University of Lethbridge professor of sociology Trevor Harrison says Poilievre will have to prove he's more in tune with Canadians than his predecessors, if the Tories are to return to power for the first time since 2015.
"He brings a kind of freshness, and at this point I think there's a certain fatigue with the federal Liberals," Harrison said.
But he believes Poilievre's combative style could prove challenging when it comes to appealing to a wide range of voters across the country.
Duration 6:07What Alberta should expect with Pierre Poilievre named as new federal Conservative Party leader
"Many of the things that he is associated with -- support for the convoys, being anti-Liberal, anti-Trudeau, and the libertarian appeal to freedom -- these are things that sell very well in Alberta, but again its to break out of the heartland of conservativism here to actually win a national election."
Speaking at the Liberal Party retreat, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Poilievre on becoming the leader of the Opposition.
“We all need to work together. Now is not the time for politicians to exploit fears and to pit people one against the other. As you all know, the Conservative Party picked a new leader over the weekend,” Trudeau said.
Read more:
This is Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party. What will he do with it?
Trudeau added that the government has been making “every effort” to work with all politicians and will “continue to do so.”
“But this doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be calling out highly questionable, reckless economic ideas. What Canadians need is responsible leadership,” Trudeau said.
The next federal election isn't expected until 2024.
--with files from Rachel Gilmore, Global News
"Many of the things that he is associated with -- support for the convoys, being anti-Liberal, anti-Trudeau, and the libertarian appeal to freedom -- these are things that sell very well in Alberta, but again its to break out of the heartland of conservativism here to actually win a national election."
Speaking at the Liberal Party retreat, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Poilievre on becoming the leader of the Opposition.
“We all need to work together. Now is not the time for politicians to exploit fears and to pit people one against the other. As you all know, the Conservative Party picked a new leader over the weekend,” Trudeau said.
Read more:
This is Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party. What will he do with it?
Trudeau added that the government has been making “every effort” to work with all politicians and will “continue to do so.”
“But this doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be calling out highly questionable, reckless economic ideas. What Canadians need is responsible leadership,” Trudeau said.
The next federal election isn't expected until 2024.
--with files from Rachel Gilmore, Global News
Pierre Poilievre pits the 'have-nots' against the
'have-yachts'
Bloomberg News ,
Pickup trucks pack the parking lot of the Best Western Lamplighter Inn. On an August evening in London, Ont., the hotel’s ballroom is standing room only. The Conservative Party rally is attracting rugged folks, many from outlying hamlets: farmers, health-care workers, bus drivers, pensioners, and a handful of students.
Pierre Poilievre wades into the crowd of 700, which erupts into cheers. He’s campaigning to take over Canada’s right wing and remove Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He expresses outrage over struggling single mothers who add water to their children’s milk, 35-year-old men unable to afford rent and living in their parents’ basements, the Bank of Canada’s printing of money, taxes on fertilizer and energy, the cost of gasoline, and the mask and vaccine mandates still prevalent in Canada. He blames Trudeau for each, especially rising prices, which he labels “Justin-flation.”
Wealth is flowing, he says, “from the have-nots to the have-yachts.” Elite gatekeepers are standing in your way. “Wokeism” is destroying society. After enumerating the taxes, he lowers his voice and, with the timing of a stand-up comic, says: “I hear it got so cold in Ottawa that someone saw Trudeau with his hands in his own pockets.”
The crowd roars and then waits patiently for up to 90 minutes for a handshake, a private word, and a selfie. This year, Poilievre signed up a record-breaking 300,000 members to his party. Now the question is whether he can turn that embrace and his vow to slash spending into the ultimate political prize.
On Saturday, Poilievre (pronounced Paw-lee-EV in English and Pwa-lee-EVR in French) took a major step by winning his party’s leadership in a landslide. He sees it as the start of a populist revolution in Canadian politics, something that would’ve seemed pure fantasy just a few years ago. Rich, calm, and distinctly liberal, Canada tut-tutted the rise of Donald Trump in the US and Boris Johnson in the UK. Trudeau soared to his first victory in 2015 with talk of “sunny ways,” the idea that his nation of 38 million sets a global standard for well-planned civility, especially compared with the messy behemoth to its south.
But COVID-19, a series of modest scandals and missteps, and the inflation and insecurity punishing much of the globe are posing unprecedented challenges to Trudeau. For the first time in his seven years, more than half the country has a negative view of him. Trudeau’s troubles have prompted speculation that he won’t lead the Liberals into another election, expected in 2025, but he’s repeatedly said he intends to stay and fight.
Like the Republican and Democratic parties in the US, the Conservatives and Liberals have switched roles. The educated rich are now Liberals, while the Conservatives are increasingly the home of the working class. In Poilievre’s words, his party has gone “from suits to boots.” But, in contrast with the US, it’s pro-immigration and gay rights and doesn’t campaign on opposing abortion or making sweeping changes to firearm regulations. This is Canada, after all.
What’s noteworthy isn’t so much that the opposition is gaining at a time of general discontent. It’s that it’s doing so with a candidate so openly associated with the far right who’s drawing support from left-leaning young voters opposed to vaccine mandates. Traditionally, a Conservative in Canada must tack to the center to win and govern. Stephen Harper did just that during his decade in power starting in 2006. The last two Conservative leaders campaigned on a vow of moderation—and lost to Trudeau.
Poilievre offers no centrist message. He cozied up to the truckers’ protests against vaccine mandates last February. Some turned violent. He’s vowed to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada for stoking inflation. He labels the World Economic Forum at Davos a cabal of corporate titans and governing mandarins and says any minister of his who attends will do so on a one-way ticket. He’s also a deficit hawk in the mold of Republican Paul Ryan, former US Speaker of the House, and adamantly opposes any increase in taxes. “We will fight tooth-and-nail to stop it,” he told his party’s caucus on Monday, in a speech that drew standing ovations.
It’s all rather unfamiliar in the placid waters of Canadian politics and has led many in the liberal strongholds of Toronto and Ottawa to compare Poilievre to Trump. It’s a limited analogy at best—Poilievre is 43 and has been a fiscal wonk and parliamentarian for the past two decades, with a staid personal life. A better comparison might be with Trudeau himself. Poilievre is the age Trudeau was when he was elected. Like the prime minister, he’s a polarizing figure who preaches Canadian exceptionalism. His version stresses individual freedom, limited government, and deregulation—making Canada “the freest nation on Earth”—rather than central planning and environmental responsibility.
“If I were to start my own party from scratch, it would be the Mind-Your-Own-Business Party,” he says in an interview after his Ontario rally. “Personal agency is robbed when people can’t make their own decisions.”
Poilievre is speaking after his meet-and-greet. He’s a tactile and talented politician, a hand-holder who solicits stories of hardship that he then takes on the road. Unlike Trudeau, who has dazzle and sex appeal, Poilievre has a kind of anti-charisma charisma, the idea that he’s a plain talker from an ordinary background just like yours.
His targeted voter is someone like Adam Trojek, who was at the London event. A 37-year-old franchisee of Bimbo Bakeries, Trojek voted for Trudeau in 2015 and regrets it.
“He’s been spending money we don’t have,” Trojek says. “During COVID, he shut down too many businesses. I have a 10-month-old daughter, and she will be paying for all these policies. Poilievre keeps asking questions of the government. He talks the way I talk. He never gets the answers. But hopefully he will be the answer.”
Poilievre is no political outsider. He’s been an outspoken Conservative member of Parliament his entire adult life, elected at 25 as the youngest in the chamber from a district outside Ottawa. He established himself as unrelenting at Question Period, the often raucous time set aside for lawmakers to query government ministers. He’s long made fiscal policy a central focus, going hard after big government and Liberal spending. COVID gave him powerful new credibility, as Trudeau ran up a record-smashing deficit of $328 billion (US$254 billion) in the year ended March 2021. Until then, the largest deficit in Canadian history had been $56.4 billion in 2009, during the global financial crisis.
Trudeau argued the pricey pandemic programs were necessary to keep the economy and families afloat. Poilievre predicted the spending would produce skyrocketing inflation that would hammer those holding mortgages and other debt. His prediction largely came true.
Two years ago, when he was the Conservative Party's chief finance spokesperson, the so-called shadow minister or critic, Poilievre told Bloomberg News that Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem “should not be an ATM for Trudeau’s insatiable spending appetites.” He added: “If the Bank of Canada does want to start getting more and more political, then it will be held to the same level of political accountability as other political entities.”
In a leadership debate this year, he pledged to fire Macklem if elected prime minister. His social media accounts regularly target the central bank, saying it can't be trusted to fix inflation after causing it in the first place. He called the Bank of Canada “financially illiterate.”
Slamming Macklem brings cheers at Poilievre's rallies, but it’s disturbed members of his party who fear they're sacrificing their reputation as sound economic managers. Ed Fast, who backed a rival for leadership, resigned as the party's finance critic this spring, saying he was deeply troubled. "Defending the independence of the central bank is not a Liberal talking point," Fast said in a TV interview.
Poilievre's candidacy is therefore also raising concerns about Conservative unity. The modern party is the product of a compromise in 2003, when the more establishment Progressive Conservatives merged with the prairie-based populists of the Canadian Alliance. Prior to the merger, vote-splitting on the right had resulted in three straight election victories by the Liberals; later, the Conservative Party triumphed under Harper.
Marjory LeBreton, a former Conservative senator who was deputy chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and later served in Harper's cabinet, witnessed the painstaking negotiations that led to the merger. She says the “great accommodation” of 2003 is now “fracturing beyond repair” with Poilievre's leadership, and moderate Conservatives like her are losing their home.
“I worry that he'll transform the party into something unelectable,” LeBreton says, adding that Canadians will reject someone who only knows how to “go for the jugular.” She points to Poilievre’s support for the trucker convoy, despite its blockade of a city he represents. LeBreton, who lives in Poilievre's electoral district, says he turned his back on his own constituents.
“I’ve been a Conservative all my life,” LeBreton says. “I believe in law and order. To me, this populism just takes a sledgehammer to a cornerstone of conservatism.”
To understand Poilievre’s populism, it’s helpful to start where he did: in a lower-middle-class suburb of the western city of Calgary. The house where he grew up—Marlene, his mother, still lives there—is a split-level of gray shingle and brick with a tiny front lawn and an alley out back. On his street, at the end of the city’s light rail line, men cut their own grass. Pierre was a paperboy for the Calgary Sun and a high school wrestler. He was born to an unwed mother who at 16 gave him up for adoption to the Poilievres, teachers from the neighboring province of Saskatchewan. His father came from French-speaking stock; his mother, English. His younger brother, also adopted by the Poilievres from the same biological mother, works for a Calgary councilman.
It would be hard to imagine a clearer contrast with the background of Canada’s current leader. Trudeau’s father, Pierre, was a larger-than-life prime minister, his mother, Margaret, a 1970s symbol of glitz and glamour. Trudeau came of age in sophisticated Montreal with a Kennedy-esque pedigree amid lavish comfort. Poilievre not only comes from the humblest of stock but also from the western province of Alberta, which has long resented the eastern establishments.
“Out here on the prairies, we get it,” says Rick Bell, a columnist for the Calgary Sun, the paper Poilievre once threw onto doorsteps. Sitting in a diner booth where he interviewed Poilievre several months ago, he continues to explain how most there see things: “We’re outsiders. Things need fixing, and they are the very things that were produced by ‘sunny ways.’ Pierre brings that outsider-ness and is taking on the establishment. For Canada, this is very bold.”
Calgary, gateway to the Canadian Rockies, may consider itself marginalized, but it’s hardly poor. It owes its substantial wealth to oil, gas, and cattle, industries with long traditions of opposing government regulation. There’s been a Western US influence from homesteaders, oil workers, and Mormons who moved north. Like Houston or Denver, Calgary holds dearly to its Old West ways, labeling its highways “trails” and its fairgrounds “the Calgary Stampede.”
Its university has famously produced a set of ideas known as the Calgary School, an echo of the free-market Chicago School. Ex-Prime Minister Harper emerged from that incubator, as did Poilievre. Young Pierre was active in the university’s conservative club and in 1999 was a finalist in an essay contest on what he would do if elected prime minister. He’d leave Canadians “to cultivate their own personal prosperity and to govern their own affairs as directly as possible,” he wrote in an early version of his current ideology. He began a political communications company after graduation and was then hired by Stockwell Day, a Conservative politician who took him to Ottawa.
Day became foreign affairs shadow minister and Poilievre his policy aide. As Day recalls, “One cold winter night, he came into my office and said, ‘I am thinking of running for a local constituency here in Ontario.’ I said, ‘Calgary would make more sense. Here nobody knows you, you have a French name, and you’ll be seen as a young punk outsider.’ He didn’t listen and door-knocked his way to victory.”
Poilievre has many qualities that are rare for his party and broaden his appeal. He comes from the West but represents the East. He has a French name and speaks excellent French. He’s married to a Venezuelan immigrant to Quebec with whom he has two small children, yet he’s seen as having an Anglophone’s outlook. Unlike American politicians on the hard right, he’s pro-immigrant and doesn’t want to touch abortion rights. On gay rights, he says, “It should be freedom for everybody, including gays and lesbians, to live their own lives in happiness and without interference from the state.” His focus on pocketbook issues is relentless. “When you inflate asset prices, what you do is you shut the lower-income working classes out of property ownership while inflating the wealth of those who have,” he says.
To some political observers, Canada today feels like 1979 during the rise of Ronald Reagan in the US and Margaret Thatcher in the UK. There’s runaway inflation, an energy crisis, and a Russian threat. Impatience with government missteps and COVID mandates is palpable; Air Canada flights require masking, and pilots all but apologize for it during their takeoff announcements.
Poilievre’s campaign videos feature him talking about issues such as a gummed-up bureaucracy, high taxes, and the loss of tradition. They’ve gone viral. He terrifies many who consider him a demagogue for his embrace of anti-vaxxers and attacks on Davos and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. as woke gatekeepers.
Three years, the time before a general election is due, is an awfully long time in politics. But no one counts Poilievre out. Because of Canada’s multiparty politics, he needs only to add a small percentage of non-Conservative voters to triumph in an election. “He’s building on a politics of grievance and is really good at coming up with slogans,” says Lori Williams, a political scientist at Calgary’s Mount Royal University. “We have seen conservative populist leaders win all over the world. Why would Canada be different?”
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