Who is Pierre Poilievre? Canada’s conservative leader is seeking to become the next prime minister after Trudeau’s exit

OTTAWA, Canada— With Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement Monday morning that he will step down as leader of the Liberal Party, his successor will face official opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, whose Conservative Party has almost three times the support of engaged voters (47 % compared to 18%). for Liberals) at 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 grow weary of 53-year-old Trudeau, whose Liberals formed government in 2015.

“Bringing home the Canadian dream” has been one of the Conservatives’ main themes, and Poilievre has condemned the Liberals for 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.

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Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, speaks during a ‘Spike the Hike – Ax the Tax’ rally in Edmonton on March 27, 2024 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“People are tired of grandiosity,” Poilievre said. “Horrible, utopian wokeism” serves, he said, “selfish personalities at the top,” rather than “ordinary people.”

Trudeau has said Poilievre will “make Canada great again,” comparing the Tory leader to incoming US President Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” mantra.

But while Poilievre’s populist messages have generated comparisons to Trump’s policy approach, the Canadian Conservative leader has pushed back on the president-elect’s comments about making Canada the 51st state.

“I have the strength and the smarts to stand up for this country, and my message to President-elect Trump is that first and foremost, Canada will never be the 51st state of the United States,” Poilievre said in an interview with Canadian television station. CTV Newsbefore Christmas.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to media outside Rideau Cottage on Monday, Jan. 6, in Ottawa. (AP/Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The incoming Trump administration will almost certainly 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 on March 24, opposition parties are likely to defeat the minority Liberal government in a vote of no confidence, which would trigger a national referendum.

In his Peterson interview, Poilievre acknowledged that Trump — who has proposed a 25% tariff on Canadian exports — “negotiates very aggressively and he likes to win.” But as prime minister, the Conservative leader said he would seek “a great deal that will make both countries safer, richer and stronger.”

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Canada’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre holds a news conference in a hotel ballroom in Ottawa, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (ustin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Poilievre said he would speed up approvals to build oil refineries, liquefied natural gas plants and nuclear plants and increase his electricity surplus with the U.S.

He also told Peterson that Canada sells its oil and gas to the United States at “huge discounts,” which he characterized as a “ripoff” where “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 won’t be getting out of jail anymore,” the Conservative leader said.

On foreign affairs, the Canadian Conservatives’ 2023 policy document states that as a government they would “take the necessary steps to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States to close the loopholes related to illegal entry into Canada,” and that the Conservative The party recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Canadian Embassy in Israel is currently in Tel Aviv.

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Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, speaks during a rally in Edmonton on March 27, 2024 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In a statement released in response to Trudeau’s resignation on Monday, Poilievre said “this changes nothing” and that a Conservative Canadian government will “take back control of our border, take back control of immigration, take back control of spending , deficit and inflation back. . Take back control of our streets by locking up criminals, dealing with addiction and stopping gun traffickers.”

The Conservatives, Poilievre added, “would secure borders, rearm our forces, restore our freedom and put Canada first.”