Poilievre: How It’s Done

Canada has a very different political culture than the United States, molded more along the line of Great Britain’s than the more free-wheeling and aggressive US style. 

I’m not a huge fan of parliamentary systems, but I admit that something warms the more intellectual side of my heart when I see a debate in Canada or the UK. The thrust and parry, the quick wit, and the testing of intellects are fun to watch. 

One-on-one interviews are also different, although less so. The expectation that politicians speak in a bit more depth and with a lot more restraint is deeply ingrained, although in recent years the limits have loosened and politics have gotten to be more pugilistic. 

Pierre Poilievre thrives in Canada’s political culture in a way that few conservatives ever have. While the effeminate-looking, blackface wearing, virtue-signaling Justin Trudeau has done well until recently by imitating the Gavin Newsom style of pretty-boy, substance-free governing, as conditions in Canada have deteriorated, Canadians have lost a taste for the all-style-no-substance approach. 

Don’t get me wrong: Trudeau is good at the verbal sparring, but Canadians have woken up to the fact that the disconnect between pretty words and competent actions is too big to ignore with Fidelito. 

Which is why Poilievre is so successful as a politician in Canada. 

Bring home common sense: https://t.co/Mlman55m8q pic.twitter.com/fykUMF2kgx

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) January 22, 2025

Poilievre is the opposite of flashy, although he is far from boring to watch. As Canadians have woken up to the fact that the Pravda Media in Canada has, along with the Liberals, sold them a bill of goods and tried to baffle them with bulls**t, Poilievre is a breath of fresh air. Unlike Trump–he is certainly not Canada’s version of Trump–he is intensely disciplined and navigates the minefields the media places in his path with an entirely different style. 

Trump humiliates the media by shooting back at them and going for the jugular; Poilievre uses verbal jujitsu to use the momentum of his verbal opponents to use the conversational momentum against his attackers. 

Who can forget the “apple” conversation in which he dispassionately destroyed a reporter not by striking out but by tripping him up?

 Poilievre constantly uses the term “common sense,” and it works because the Western elite have taken a long vacation from living in what we know of as reality. Poilievre’s trademark look of “confusion” when a complete absurdity is uttered is a reflection of what many in the audience are feeling, and it gives everybody permission to admit that. 

Just as Trump has moved the Overton Window here in the States using his pugilistic technique that has worked so well for him, Poilievre uses his tone and his looks to accomplish much the same task. In both cases voters feel a relief that they can say what they really think because the culture has shifted under their feet. 

I’m pretty confident that the Trump approach wouldn’t work in a place like Canada, or even the Nigel Farage style of politics. Canadians like to believe that they are especially “nice,” and in tone they are even as they medically murder their citizens. 

Canada will have elections some time in the next few months, and the Liberals will get to determine exactly when. They have to occur in October at the latest, although the Liberals can decide when between now and then if they like. With Trudeau out the Liberals will go into the race with a new face, but it’s hard to see how any Liberal leader can dig themselves out of the hole that Trudeau dug for them. 

If trends continue–that is a big if, and partisan pollsters from the left show the Liberals gaining in support–Poilievre’s Conservatives will take a supermajority of the House of Parliament.

Much of the credit for that goes to Trudeau, of course, who has been remarkably awful. But Poilievre deserves as much credit due to his “common sense” style that reminds me of a Canadian version of JD Vance in style. 

Whoever wins will oppose Canada’s inclusion in the United States, but it will be interesting to see how well Trump can work with Poilievre who appears to wince every time he is compared to him. Trumpism probably wouldn’t work well in Canada, but Poilievreism looks like it will.