OTTAWA, Canada— With Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement on Monday morning that he will step down as Liberal Party leader, whoever succeeds him will face Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose Conservative Party has nearly three times the support of committed voters (47% compared to 18% for the Liberals) in this year’s general election.
First elected to the House of Commons in 2004, 45-year-old, Calgary-born Poilievre, 45, became leader of the Canadian Conservatives in 2022 and has seen his party grow in popularity as Canadians have grown tired of 53-year-old Trudeau, whose Liberals formed government in 2015.
"Bring home the Canadian dream" has been one of the Conservatives’ major themes, and Poilievre has cast the Liberals as governing with ‘an extremely radical ideology,’ which he described as "basically authoritarian socialism," in a recent 90-minute interview with popular podcast host Jordan Peterson.
"People are sick and tired of grandiosity," said Poilievre. "Horrendous, utopian wokeism" serves, he said, "egotistical personalities on top," rather than "common people."
Trudeau has said that Poilievre wants to "make Canada great again," comparing the Tory leader to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump and his "Make America Great Again" mantra.
But while Poilievre’s populist messaging has generated comparisons to Trump’s political approach, the Canadian Conservative leader has pushed back the president-elect’s recent comments about making Canada the 51st state.
"I have the strength and the smarts to stand up for this country and my message to incoming President Trump is that first and foremost, Canada will never be the 51st state of the U.S.," Poilievre said in an interview with Canadian broadcaster, CTV News, before Christmas.
The incoming Trump administration will almost assuredly deal with a Poilievre government as the Conservatives are poised to win the next Canadian election, which could come as early as this spring. When the House of Commons resumes sitting on March 24, the opposition parties are likely to defeat the minority Liberal government in a vote of no-confidence, which would trigger a national vote.
In his Peterson interview, Poilievre acknowledged that Trump — who has proposed a 25% tariff against Canadian exports — "negotiates very aggressively, and he likes to win." But as prime minister, the Conservative leader said that he would seek "a great deal that will make both countries safer, richer and stronger."
Poilievre said that he would accelerate approvals to build oil refineries, liquefied natural gas plants and nuclear facilities, and increase its electricity surplus with the U.S.
He also told Peterson that Canada sells its oil and gas to the U.S. at "enormous discounts," which he characterized as a "ripoff," in which "Canada is ripping itself off."
A Poilievre-led government would also embark on "the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history" and that "habitual offenders will not get out of jail anymore," the Conservative leader said.
On foreign affairs, the Canadian Conservatives’ 2023 policy document states that it would, as government, "take the required steps to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. to close the gaps relating to illegal entries in Canada," and that the Conservative Party recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Canada’s embassy in Israel is currently in Tel Aviv.
In a statement released in response to Trudeau’s resignation on Monday, Poilievre said that "this changes nothing" and that a Conservative Canadian government would "take back control of our border, take back control of immigration, take back control of spending, deficits and inflation. Take back control of our streets by locking up criminals, banning drugs, treating addiction and stopping gun smugglers."
The Conservatives, added Poilievre, "would secure borders, rearm our forces, restore our freedom and put Canada First."
