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October 6, 2024 - 6:00pm
Canadians think Justin Trudeau is the worst prime minister since 1968. That might sound like hyperbole, but a recent poll revealed that 38% of Canadian respondents believe Trudeau to be the worst leader the country has seen in more than half a century. It’s no surprise, then, to see the Prime Minister’s Liberal Party fighting tooth and nail for second place with Jagmeet Singh’s Left-wing NDP, with both parties sitting 20 points behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.
But why have the Conservatives seen such a surge in support, especially among voters in the 18-35 age bracket? An astonishing 47% of Canadian Millennials would vote for Poilievre if an election were held today, and nearly half of all Canadians want an election to be called this year. The reasons why the leader of the Conservative Party is doing so well among young voters are largely economic: high inflation, a cost-of-living crisis, and housing unaffordability are all driving people away from the Liberals, who have been in power for almost 10 years.
But there are also other reasons why Millennials are turning away from Trudeau. For example, his ham-fisted attempts at regulating the internet in an effort to fight “disinformation” and support for climate change policies — in particular the carbon tax brought in by the Liberals — have been losing public support in recent months. The latter issue has been particularly seized upon by Poilievre, whose promise to “Axe the Tax” has resonated strongly with Millennials on social media.
This week, the Tory leader released a campaign ad that went viral online. The one-minute clip highlights Poilievre’s humble beginnings as an orphan adopted by two school teachers in Alberta, growing up playing ice hockey and being taught that Canada was a land of opportunity for anyone who worked hard for it — but not anymore. His claims that “debt, taxes, and crime are up, jobs are down, immigration is broken […] woke obsessions dishonour our history, destroy our education, degrade our military, and divide our people” don’t shy away from saying what many Canadians are thinking.
Ever since winning the Conservative leadership race in 2022, Poilievre has harped on these messages, which more and more Canadians are starting to agree with. This past summer, parents of teenagers and young adults were outraged to see their kids sitting home idly without jobs because most low-skilled and entry-level employment went to unskilled, temporary foreign workers, almost entirely from India. The sharp increase in crime committed by international students and unvetted temporary residents who join Punjabi gangs in Canada and have been behind a rash of auto thefts across the country has further disillusioned voters from the out-of-control immigration policies the Liberals have brought in over the last decade.
Poilievre is campaigning to reverse course on immigration and build more houses if elected prime minister. Importantly, he is seen as more trustworthy than Trudeau, with more than half of Canadians describing Poilievre as “open and honest about his actions, decisions, and intentions”, whereas only 39% feel the same about Trudeau. These traits could also explain why Poilievre is polling well, not only with young voters, but also with women who have traditionally favoured either the Liberals or the NDP over Conservatives.
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SubscribeIt takes quite a while for Canadians to come to their senses and then quite a while more to act on it.
It’s the cold. It slows everything down.
Sam Houston said as much about Northerners as a warning to Texas before it seceded to join the Confederacy.
As an American, I sometimes forget that Canada exists. It’s articles like this that remind me, so I thank the author with sincerity.
Yes, it exists
The descriptions of discouragement in Canada are eerily similar to those in Britain. We have jettisoned the Conservatives, and the Canadians favour them. In both countries US capitalism has hollowed out national politics, and national re-birth can happen only when each country takes charge again of its own economy.
Britain jettisoned the Tory WEF party which has let in the Labour WEF party who will also be destroyed. Reform is the re-born conservative force in the UK now. Trudeau is another WEF puppet who will be booted out, just like Jacinda Ardern and her party in New Zealand were. The WEF influence is being pushed out across many European countries too. At last!
As a Canadian I can verify that Trudeau is not just another WEF puppet…he is the HEAD puppet..Do you really think that he came up with the draconian implementation of “freezing bank accounts” ?
China, and your bank account is just the first step. After that they will solve the problem of not enough organs for the demand.
With my small understanding of UK politics – this is what it looked like to me. Instead of saying EV mandates are total BS – the UK Conservatives would say that they need to push the deadline back. This weak centrist waffling isn’t what people want.
May I just say first of all that I agree with you wholeheartedly that it is capitalism at base, although I call it protestant, not only US capitalism, because it had its genesis in the protestant revolution when money was untethered from concrete value and usury was legalized. But may I add that the remedy is not an adoption of communist economics either, not because regulation is bad, but only because it comes with its materialistic, atheistic baggage. And may I suggest an alternative. One that you will laugh at, but perhaps you will give it a moment to grow on you, The protestant rebellion overthrew an economy as well as a religion,and that religion’s principles of non-competition, of money necessarily tied to value, of private property, and other features, especially around housing, are really worth considering. And for an updated version, an interim proposal, may be found in Dr. Brian McCall’s The Church and the Usurers (Angelus Press). It’s chapter 7 will knock your socks off. I don’t know why they haven’t come for him.
I don’t follow Canadian politics at all, but I do note that Trudeau has been in power for a while. Long serving governments tend to get “on the nose”, and invariably get dumped for “the other lot” at some stage (as recently happened in Britain). Of course, sometimes “the other lot” are “on the nose” as well.
Give credit where it’s due: Poilievre is the most effective conservative politician to emerge in the West since Thatcher. Our own cringing, apologetic Tory wimps could learn a lot from him.
I knew basically nothing about him, but when I read your post, I googled him. I am in general agreement with the thrust of almost all of his policies, apart from the fact that he seems to like crypto, which I am no fan of.
What I most like about him is his forthrightness – something our puny, hand-wringing tories seem incapable of.
Ah, but does crypto like YOU? That is the question …. 😉
Don’t know. Don’t care. Never touched the stuff myself.
Conservative politicians should also watch the election in the Canadian Province of British Columbia. The BC Conservative Party in less than a year has come out of nowhere – completely replaced the centrist BC United Party (which literally folded) and is now looking like it will beat the socialist BC NDP. The Federal NDP is the same party propping up Trudeau’s government (which is a minority government) and it is the party of climate change, pronouns, social justice, masks and vaccines, etc. The BC Conservatives are very conservative – calling out climate catastrophism, cancelling transgender ideology in schools, cancelling mandatory EV’s, promoting natural gas and nuclear power as energy sources, unapologetically supportive of the Jewish community, etc. People are in fact sick of social justice bullies ruining their lives and smart politicians will come right out and challenge their nonsense. I suspect the UK Conservative Party went down to defeat because they failed to do this.
Yup be true to yourself. Unless of course you are a spineless politician and your opinions float with the polls. In that case you should join the un. You’re a natural.
The sooner we get rid of this odious little woke fascist insect the better.
That is inaccurate! He’s not that “little”!
The ndp leader is propping up the government so he gets his pension. It’s a good look for the ndp. Pork barrel from the top down. Never have so few stolen so much from so many. The legalization of weed was the biggest transfer of money from the middle class to billionaires in Canadian history.
How long can the Liberals (and NDP) drag out this minority government?