Pierre Poilievre: Canada's Conservative PM contender
After enjoying a two-year lead in the polls, Conservatives now look poised to lose the 28 April election. Al Majalla explains how Trump's adversarial policy towards Canada is the reason for this shift.
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Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, speaks during a news conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
Pierre Poilievre: Canada's Conservative PM contender
January's dramatic resignation of Justin Trudeau—Canada’s long-serving Liberal Prime Minister—due to the growing disillusionment of Canadian voters with the "woke" agenda his administration had led to speculation of a pending Liberal defeat in the upcoming 28 April election.
Trudeau’s decade-long stint as prime minister saw Canada pursue several controversial policies, including stunts such as implementing a “gender-neutral” budget and championing environmental issues. His inability to connect with the concerns of ordinary Canadians, who have been struggling to cope with the rising impact of inflation, resulted in a calamitous collapse in his support, with three-quarters of Canadian voters registering their disapproval with his performance.
Trudeau’s predicament was not helped by the constant attacks he endured at the hands of US President-elect Donald Trump, who openly mocked the Canadian premier’s political stature, referring to him as a "governor" in online posts and threatening to hit Canadians with 25% tariffs—a move that could have a devastating impact on the Canadian economy. With his Liberal Party facing political oblivion at the next election, Trudeau was left with little option but to resign.
For his part, Poilievre, 45, had long vowed to save the country from “horrendous, utopian wokeism” and reduce tensions between Canada and the incoming Trump administration. In the days after Trudeau's resignation, the Conservatives hit their highest polling to date, and a generation-defining win seemed as good as sealed.
Trump's adversarial policies towards Canada have eroded the Conservatives' two-year poll lead. They now significantly trail behind the Liberals in the final stretch of campaigning.
But when Trump was inaugurated, he immediately began threatening to impose tariffs on Canada and even to annex the country to make it the 51st state, dealing a devastating blow to the Conservatives, who, within weeks, saw their 25-point poll lead disappear in one of the sharpest polling shifts in Canada's political history. They now seem to be trailing well behind the Liberals in the final stretch of campaigning.
Early life and career
Born and raised in Calgary, Poilievre holds a degree in international relations from the University of Calgary. He lives in the Eastern Ontario village of Greely with his wife Anaida, a former political advisor, and their two children. He identifies as a lifelong conservative and a staunch advocate of free-market policies, having led Canada's Conservative Party since 2022.
His political journey began in 2004 when he was elected as a member of parliament for the Conservative Party. He previously served as a senior cabinet minister under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He rose to the leadership of the Conservative Party after backing the Freedom Convoy in January 2022—an uprising that began as a protest by truckers against pandemic lockdowns but soon spread to a wider "pro-freedom" message. A video of him calmly eating an apple while batting off questions from a reporter went viral in 2023 as an example of how to defeat a left-wing journalist.
He promised to implement "the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history", saying repeat offenders would not be allowed to leave jail.
His economic policies include decreasing government spending, cutting bureaucracy and foreign aid, reducing consultancy fees, and eliminating corporate welfare for large companies. "I will need people to put pressure on the Senate to adopt my economic reforms. I will need people to put pressure on their mayors and local councillors, and let us build homes. I will need businesses to actually do their part."
Poilievre has also proposed removing the federal sales tax on new homes valued under $1mn to address Canada's housing crisis. A key criticism Poilievre had of the Trudeau government was its carbon tax, which he opposes.
Oddly pro-immigration
While Poilievre's policies echo those of President Trump, they notably diverge from Trump's MAGA goals regarding immigration. While Trump has repeatedly vilified immigrants and promised mass deportations, Poilievre has insisted that the "Conservative party is pro-immigration". While Poilievre is open to working with Trump, the Canadian politician has stopped short of fully embracing him.
In response to Trump's repeated suggestions that Canada could become America's 51st state, Poilievre vowed to "never let it happen" and attacked Trudeau's government for failing to demonstrate that Canada was a strong US ally.
Poilievre said on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast that he could strike a "great deal" with Trump to increase Canada's oil and gas exports to the USand "make both countries safer, richer, and stronger. Writing on X, he said that Canada is the "best friend to the US", pointing to the fact that his country helped the US "retaliate against Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks".
Mr. President, it is true.
I am not MAGA.
I am for Canada First. Always.
Canada has always been America's best friend & ally.
He also stated that Canada supplies the US with billions of dollars of high-quality and totally reliable energy at well below market prices and buys hundreds of billions of dollars of American goods.
After a comment by Peterson about oil and gas companies toeing what he called the "green line," Poilievre did not mince words, calling them idiots. "The big five oil and gas companies in Canada have idiot lobbyists."
Conservative MPs such as Andrew Scheer, who serves as the party's house leader in Parliament, Melissa Lantsman, one of its deputy leaders, and Ontario MP Jamil Jivani were all names Poilievre mentioned when asked by Peterson about how he intends to build a strong team.
However, it now seems that he won't have the chance to build a government after the Conservatives' two-year lead in the polls has been reversed. With Conservatives now trailing well behind the Liberals, in the final days of the campaign, the race is Mark Carney's to lose. When he likely wins, he will have Trump to thank.
