Election of Pierre Poilievre as Conservative leader means Canada now has its own Trumpist political party headed by a politician who embraces extremism

By Fareed Khan

For the third time in five years the Conservative Party of Canada has elected a new leader.  This time it is Ottawa area MP Pierre Poilievre.  And if his campaign to lead the Conservatives is any indication then his victory poses a potential threat to Canada's democratic and social stability.

Since the start of Poilievre’s leadership campaign there have been repeated dire warnings by political analysts and media voices about the possible danger to Canada of a Poilievre led Conservative Party.  Now that he has won the leadership Canadians need to pay more attention to those warnings.

One columnist called Poilievre "Canada’s most dangerous, appalling politician".  Another who was critical of Poilievre's campaign tactics said that the Conservatives should now be called the "Convoy Party of Canada" given his embrace of that movement. A third media voice was extremely critical of Poilievre as a future prime minister given his association with "dangerous Diagolon extremists”.  While a fourth accused him of using “abusive” and “sexist” language that endangered female journalists, racialized women journalists in particular.

The targeting of racialized and female journalists by some of his supporters is a phenomenon that Poilievre does not seem to take seriously, similar to what happened in the US under Donald Trump when media was labeled as an “enemy of the people”, and his supporters attacked and intimidated reporters who were critical of him.  While Poilievre has not used those exact same words those he has used have motivated extremist, racist and misogynistic elements to target female and racialized journalists with threats of violence when they have portrayed him negatively in their stories.

In addition, these same elements have posted hateful comments on various social media platforms targeting minority communities, including the Jewish, Muslim and LGBTQ2 communities.  Part of Poilievre’s victory can be attributed to support from these fringe elements of society, as did his willingness to welcome convoy protesters, white supremacists, homophobes and transphobes into his tent.  If the reactions to his victory on social media are any indication a majority of Canadians are very unsettled, especially those from many minority communities.

The way that Poilievre ran his leadership campaign, and the fringe element that see him as "their guy", should raise all kinds of red flags for Canadians.  His readiness to appeal to these unsavoury elements in society means that if the next election is won by the Conservatives Canada could see the same sort of societal divisiveness and instability in this country as we saw in the US during the Trump era.

Like the convoy protesters and extremists who supported him Poilievre's leadership poses a threat to Canada’s social and political stability.  More so because the size of his leadership victory means that Tory voters from the far right to centrists decided to vote for him in overwhelming numbers despite warnings about the dangers of his style of politics.  In the end Poilievre received 68 per cent of the vote giving him a decisive win, and a mandate to reshape the party in line with his own far right ideological views, as happened in the Republican Party after Trump became their presidential nominee.  The world saw how that turned out during the January 6th insurrection, so what should Canadians expect given Poilievre’s support for protesters who wanted to overthrow the Canadian government?

The decision made by Conservative voters means Canadians now have a prime minister in waiting who wilfully practices toxic politics, believes in conspiracy theories, is comfortable with extreme right-wing political ideology, and follows a “Trumpist” approach to political campaigning.  If we use the US example under Trump of what to expect in Canada, then a Tory party under Poilievre will cause Canadian politics to become even more polarized and toxic, and this will energize extremists to destabilize Canada’s social and political order. 

With Poilievre’s Conservative leadership victory Canadians need to be ready to experience the kind of politics we have seen in the US during the Trump era.  Poilievre used Trump’s playbook in his campaign and will likely continue to do so in his attempt to become prime minister.  We saw how Trumpism in the US has led to more extremism, more hate, and deep societal divisions.  If we want to avoid the same in Canada then Canadians need to be prepared to fight to preserve the soul of the nation from Poilievre’s Trumpist agenda. 

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