Saboteur inside Conservative campaign identified as Pierre Poilievre, 45…

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/04/2025 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It should come as no surprise that the Conservative Party of Canada is struggling to overcome the sizeable lead the Liberals have held in public opinion polls over the past two weeks.

Pierre Poilievre, the Conservatives’ sharp-tongued leader, seems incapable of pivoting away from the Trump-like tactics he’s been using for the past few years. That messaging worked well for him until about three months ago, when U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office and began attacking Canada’s economy and sovereignty.

But now, anything remotely resembling Trump and his bullying tactics is a sure-fire way of sinking any campaign in a Canadian election. It’s become a major liability for the Conservative leader, who seems hopelessly unaware of the need to change course.

The polls are pretty clear on that, especially in Ontario and Quebec, where the Liberals enjoy a comfortable lead over the Conservatives, and where the federal election will likely be decided.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that a Trump-lite strategy is a losing one, Poilievre continues to name call, uses words such as “radical” and “woke,” and pushes U.S.-like populist policies, including Wednesday’s so-called tough-on-crime agenda, parts of which would — if implemented — violate Supreme Court of Canada rulings on bail and mandatory minimum sentencing.

Poilievre this week continued his Trump-like personal attacks, chiding Prime Minister Mark Carney for having “a banker’s haircut” and wearing “blue socks.” He also called the Liberal leader a “political grifter.”

It’s very American, it’s very Trump-like and it’s not the flavour of politics most Canadians are in the mood for right now.

Why Poilievre continues down this road of self-destruction is puzzling. Either he and his advisers don’t recognize how badly they are shooting themselves in the foot, or Poilievre is simply incapable of engaging Canadians at a more sophisticated level.

Either way, he’s alienating voters. In a time of crisis, when Canadians are looking for stability and statesmanship, Poilievre is giving them snark, personal attacks and a daily dose of negativity.

The polls are showing that is a losing strategy.

Both of Canada’s major opinion poll aggregators — Canada338.com and the CBC’s poll tracker — have the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives by six to seven percentage points. That gap has remained relatively constant for almost two weeks. If an election were held today, the Liberals would almost certainly win a solid majority.

Even if that gap narrows somewhat over the next couple of weeks, the Liberals would still likely win a majority. That’s because Conservative support is inefficient and concentrated in the West. Even a tie in the popular vote would likely result in a Liberal majority, albeit a narrow one.

Unless the Conservatives make significant inroads in Ontario between now and election day and show at least some improvement in Quebec (where they are 20 percentage points behind the Liberals), the party is headed for defeat. There is no path to victory under Poilievre’s current strategy.

Yet, miraculously, he refuses to pivot to a more marketable and pragmatic brand of politics. He is hellbent on clinging to the kind of adolescent messaging that may have worked for him in the past but is now an albatross around his neck.

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Like Trump, Poilievre continues to attack the news media and limit reporters’ questions. And he is still demonizing evidence-based harm-reduction programs, such as supervised consumption sites for people suffering from drug addictions, calling them “drug dens” and “radical” drug programs. He continues to spread falsehoods about them, much like Trump does, to try to score political points.

But it isn’t working. It’s the kind of behaviour that reminds voters of Poilievre’s support for the leaders of the trucker convoys during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they held communities across Canada hostage for weeks by occupying downtown centres and blasting air horns.

It also reminds Canadians of when Poilievre called the Bank of Canada “financially illiterate” and recommended that people buy cryptocurrency to shield themselves from inflation.

With only 2 1/2 weeks left in the campaign, Poilievre still has time to switch horses. He may have a chance to narrow the gap with the Liberals if he abandons his Trump-like tactics and figures out how to connect with Canadians. But time is running out. Every day he rips another page out of the Trump playbook is another day closer to defeat.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck
Columnist

Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.

Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.