It is a great paradox of the current political moment that despite federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s raging
hate-on for the mainstream press, we talk about him as though his Prime Ministerial victory is both guaranteed and imminent.
According to Poilievre, mainstream media is a mouthpiece for the PMO. But it is a lousy Liberal mouthpiece that publishes breathless coverage of the Conservative leader’s dominance in the polls more than a year out from the next federal election. It is a lousy Liberal mouthpiece that treats Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s defeat in that race as a foregone conclusion — as so many pundits do. (And, frankly, as I am doing right now).
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But letting his guard down comes with its own risk — that Poilievre would have to contend honestly for the first time with the toughest question he may face: who exactly is he without Justin Trudeau?
For despite the candidate’s impressive success in the polls and his churning out of slick, sassy content, Poilievre hasn’t truly defined himself in the eyes of Canadians. He has, rather, defined himself at every turn, in opposition to a hugely unpopular prime minister; a prime minister, it should be noted, whose long in the tooth government is consistently embroiled in scandal.
This fact was front and centre at
Poilievre’s recent “Axe the Tax” rally in Toronto where, when asked what brought him there, one enthusiastic attendee told Star reporter Brendan Kennedy: “Trudeau sucks, obviously.”
“Trudeau sucks, obviously” is a neat way of distilling Poilievre’s message to Canadians — a message on which he will likely get elected. But “Trudeau sucks, obviously” is not a message on which to govern, least of all in a future where Justin Trudeau is no longer a going concern.
