Pierre Poilievre, the favorite to become Canada's next leader, described his country as “broken” and riddled with “crime and chaos.” He called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “wacko” and his ministers “crazy”, “disastrous”, “incompetent and lacking in authority”.
He is in the parliament he called the left-wing opposition leader and former Trudeau supporter is a “fake, fake and fraud” and a “sellout.” The enraged leader rose from his seat, walked into the corridor and shouted: “I'm here. , brother.”
“Do it,” responded Mr. Poilievre as the House speaker struggled to restore calm and asked lawmakers to respect “the rules that we have.”
The leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Mr. Poilievre, 45, is stretching the rules of Canadian political discourse with a combative, offensive style and an anti-elitist, populist message described as genuine by supporters and authentically Trumpian by critics.
Worked so far.
Over the past year, Mr. Poilievre and his party have held a double-digit lead in the polls over Mr. Trudeau and his Liberal Party. If the votes go ahead, Mr Poilievre will become the next prime minister in a general election due by October, but most likely in the spring after Mr Trudeau announces his resignation as party leader and prime minister. minister after his party has decided on a successor.
A career politician long known as a ferocious attack dog for his party, Mr. Poilievre, who has an instinctive sense of issues that resonate with voters, has successfully defeated the unpopular Mr. Trudeau over the past year, pushing him out of touch.
Mr. Poilievre has driven the country's political agenda by picking on issues that many Canadians say Mr. Trudeau's government has underestimated or mismanaged — housing costs, inflation and immigration.
But at a news conference announcing his resignation, Mr. Trudeau said Mr. Poilievre's “vision for this country is not true for Canadians,” adding that the opposition leader did not offer an “ambitious, optimistic vision of the future.” ''
It is unclear whether Mr. Poilievre can hold on to his lead in the polls, or even consolidate that lead as voters get to know him better. The Liberal Party's election of a successor in the coming months could hit the party's popularity. And Mr Poilievre, the Conservative leader in 2022, will have to campaign on his own agenda to win over key voters.
“He would be very different than any other prime minister we've had,” said Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. “He's very combative and has been all his life. This is great as an opposition leader and even as a junior minister. But can he do it as the prime minister?''
Like other populist leaders, Mr. Poilievre has tapped into voters' post-pandemic frustrations over rising living costs, unaffordable housing and what many have seen as an arrogant Trudeau government that has made big decisions like raising immigration to historic levels or capping carbon. tax – without much explanation or consultation.
Three years ago, Mr. Poilievre was one of the few politicians who openly supported the trucks that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for weeks to protest vaccine mandates.
“He channeled anti-elitism in Canada,” said Lori Turnbull, a political scientist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “This is populist, anti-institutional. That's a big part of his message.''
Mr. Poilievre has traditionally pushed conservative messages of personal freedom, small government, low taxes, tough on crime and softer regulation of Canada's oil industry.
But he has pitted his message against the “globalist Davos elite,” threatened to fire Canada's central banker, embraced cryptocurrency and attacked the mainstream media, particularly the public broadcaster CBC, which he has vowed to defund.
''The problem we have in this country, and in all countries suffering from this terrible utopian awakening, is that it is focused on the greatness, the greatness of the leadership of egotistical figures, rather than the greatness and greatness of ordinary people,'' Mr. Poilievre said recently. interview With Canadian psychologist and conservative social media star Jordan Peterson.
“That's another reason why I think we're very good,” Mr. Poilievre said. “People say, 'I finally have someone who's letting me take control of my life.'”
Elon Musk, billionaire and one of the most influential supporters of President-elect Donald J. Trump, he said “big interview” about Mr. Poilievre's appearance on Mr. Peterson's podcast. Mr. Musk appeared to embrace Mr. Poilievre even as he continued to belittle Mr. Trudeau.
“Girl, you're not the governor of Canada anymore, so it doesn't matter what you say,” Mr. Musk placed On social media after Mr. Trudeau said there was not a “snowball's chance in hell” that Canada would become part of the United States, as Mr. Trump has suggested.
In his private life, Mr. Poilievre could not be more different from Mr. Trudeau, who grew up in the prime minister's official residence as the son of Pierre Trudeau, who led Canada for nearly 16 years and helped define Canada's modern identity. in Ottawa.
To emphasize his humble origins, Mr. Poilievre often spoke of how he was born to a 16-year-old mother in Calgary and refused to be adopted. His adoptive parents were school teachers who separated when he was 12, after which his father came out as gay.
He saluted his biological mother, his adoptive parents and his father's long-time partner when he was elected leader of the Conservative party in 2022.
“We, like most families, are a complex and messy bunch, like our country,” said Mr. Poilievre, who advocates for same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
Mr. Poilievre has two young children with his wife, Anaida Galindo, a former Senate aide whom he met in Ottawa. Ms. Poilievre was born in Venezuela but grew up with her family in Montreal. Her husband often talked about the benefits of immigration, citing Ms. Poilievre's family as an example, saying they came to Canada with “almost nothing” and “built our country like so many immigrant families.”
Mr. Poilievre, who has been involved in Conservative politics since his teenage years in Calgary, became the youngest member of Parliament when he was elected in 2004 at the age of 25. He quickly rose through the ranks, impressing senior politicians with his hard work, shrewdness and combativeness. , earning the nickname “Skippy”.
In the summer of 2023, she tried to erase the image of this nickname by wearing makeup. Abandoning dark blue suits and ties, he began to appear in public in jeans and sometimes tight shirts. She ditched her square glasses for contacts and aviator sunglasses.
“He's changed his image from a little guy with glasses and a scowl all the time to this kind of Bitcoin bro who appeals to young voters, male voters,” said Ms Turnbull, a political scientist.
In an interview with Mr Peterson, Mr Poilievre said he was “tougher” after becoming Conservative leader and was ready to become prime minister.
“It's personal to me,” he said. “I am not from a privileged or rich family. I was adopted by school teachers and grew up in a normal suburban neighborhood. We didn't always have money. But I was able to come here.”