Poilievre political tactics built on fabrication

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/04/2023 (885 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nary a week goes by without federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre showing how unfit he is to become Canada’s next prime minister. This past week was no exception.

Whether it’s spreading falsehoods the federal government is “flooding the streets with heroin” or making juvenile claims the CBC is the “propaganda arm” of the Liberal government, Poilievre continues to show he’s been unable to make the jump from political adolescence to adulthood.

When a Canadian Press reporter asked him Thursday during a news conference in Edmonton whether he would change the Broadcasting Act to chop funding for the English-language division of the CBC, but not the French side, Poilievre refused to answer.

Instead, very much like former U.S. president Donald Trump, he attacked the credibility of the reporter.

“You work for CP?” a smiling Poilievre said in response. “I just want to be careful that we don’t get you into a conflict of interest here. Have you checked with the ethics commissioner on whether you’re in a conflict of interest in asking about CBC funding, given that it’s the principle source of money for CP?”

The reporter had asked a legitimate question. Poilievre said while he plans to cut funding for the CBC, he would leave it in place for Radio-Canada so it could continue with French programming. Poilievre is unpopular in Quebec and he knows gutting funding for Radio-Canada would hurt him politically.

Instead of answering the question, Poilievre accused the reporter of biased reporting. CP is an editorially independent wire service Canadians rely on across the country for fair and accurate news, through newspapers, TV and radio broadcasts.

It’s one of the most credible media organizations in the world.

Poilievre attacked its reporter to avoid accountability.

“The CBC, frankly, is a biased propaganda arm of the Liberal party and frankly, negatively affects all media,” said Poilievre. “For example, CP is negatively affected by the fact that you have to report favourably on the CBC if you want to keep your No. 1 taxpayer-funded client happy.’

Poilievre’s false and malicious accusation the reporter, or Canadian Press generally, is not editorially neutral is classic Trumpism.

Fabrication has become a mainstay of Poilievre’s political tactics. If you repeat a lie often enough, the hope is people will start to believe it.

Poilievre, for example, says crime is worse in jurisdictions run by “woke” NDP and Liberal governments. He says it is their approach to crime and drug laws that are causing crime to soar.

“The worst disorder, drug abuse, crime and chaos are in places run by woke, NDP-Liberal mayors and premiers,” said Poilievre. “Their policies have unleashed a wicked crime spree across this country.”

However, Manitoba has among the highest violent crime rates in Canada and it’s had a Conservative government for the past seven years.

Poilievre contradicted himself when asked about soaring crime in Alberta (a province also run by a Conservative government). He says the real problem is the federal Liberals’ “catch-and-release” bail policies fuelling crime across the country.

“If it’s happening everywhere in Canada, then it can’t be the responsibility of one provincial government that represents only about 13 per cent of the national population,” he said.

Poilievre’s claim the federal Liberals enacted “catch-and-release” bail laws is fiction.

Changes to the criminal code in 2019, which made some adjustments to bail laws, merely codified several Supreme Court of Canada decisions that re-enforced the longstanding principle in Canadian jurisprudence that bail must be the norm, not the exception.

The Liberal government also added tougher bail provisions for people charged with domestic violence offences. Poilievre doesn’t mention those.

He also ignores the fact the recent surge in violent crime began four years before the 2019 bail law amendments.

Poilievre claims, falsely, changes to bail laws allow people to commit multiple violent acts in a single day.

“Justin Trudeau and his coalition with the NDP brought in catch-and-release bail that allows the same violent criminal to stab or slash someone in the morning, be out by noon, commit another crime, be out by six o’clock the same evening and commit another crime all in the same day,” said Poilievre.

His claim Ottawa is trying to ban all hunting rifles is also inaccurate. He says stripping hunters of their guns won’t prevent stabbings. He makes the claim while also suggesting, inaccurately, the CBC supports it.

“Banning a rural hunter from carrying out a great Canadian heritage of the outdoors is not going to stop stabbings on the LRT system in Calgary or Toronto,” said Poilievre. “The approach just advocated by the CBC, to go after hunters, has been tried — that’s what Trudeau’s been doing for eight years and what is the result?”

The thought of this guy becoming our next prime minister is frightening.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca