Pierre Poilievre has perhaps created a new template for free-market conservatives not just in Canada, but around the world.
America’s northern neighbor has a northern light in new Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.
T he Conservative Party of Canada chose Pierre Poilievre as its new leader, and he is now leader of the opposition in parliament. His campaign slogan is to “make Canada the freest country in the world,” and that is a welcome message for a country that has been shocked during the pandemic by the illiberal government of Justin Trudeau. From spending taxpayer money recklessly to mishandling the peaceful trucker protests in Ottawa to imposing harsh Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates, the Trudeau government is long overdue for a comeuppance.
What makes Poilievre special is he is the first Canadian political leader to eloquently and effectively promote a free-market policy agenda evocative of Ronald Reagan while drawing crowds at campaign events similar to those of Donald Trump (in Canada, politicians don’t normally get crowds). Poilievre has been drawing in new younger members to the Conservative Party, and many people who were previously uninterested in supporting Conservatives are now giving them a second look in response to Trudeau’s ineptitude.
Poilievre was raised by adoptive parents (schoolteachers from Saskatchewan) and would later marry a Venezuelan immigrant. Such a backstory sets up a David-and-Goliath contest in the future 2025 Canadian federal election (2025 is the latest an election can happen, but one could be called sooner). Justin Trudeau, the son of a famous Canadian prime minister, rode on his family’s name into office. With growing widespread popularity based on his intelligence and eloquence surrounding economic-policy issues, Poilievre shows the most promise of any Conservative leader thus far of defeating Trudeau, who has won the past three federal elections.
Poilievre’s policy agenda is not just a referendum on Trudeau, but also a positive agenda to get the cost of living under control and create a more prosperous Canada, a country that has seen almost zero GDP-per-capita growth over the past decade.
One major component of the Poilievre platform is getting housing costs under control. Canada has seen some of the fastest surging home prices and highest household debt-to-income ratios in the OECD, in part due to stringent zoning and land-use regulations in Canada’s metropolitan areas. Poilievre’s plan to enable the private sector to build more homes aims to require cities to approve building permits faster if they want to receive federal infrastructure funds. Poilievre also wants to remove regulatory “gatekeepers” by allowing foreign-licensed immigrants to be able to more easily continue in their field after coming to Canada. For example, Poilievre argues there’s little reason why foreign-trained doctors should be driving taxis.
Another major component to the Poilievre platform is allowing Canada’s energy industry to blossom again, a policy shift that would benefit not just Canada but also the rest of the world. About a decade ago during the government of the last Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, over a dozen liquefied natural gas pipelines were being planned in Canada. Today, several years after Trudeau took office, all but one have been scrapped, and it has yet to be completed. Trudeau also slowed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which ultimately was canceled by his ally, Joe Biden, south of the border. Poilievre plans to reverse these anti-energy policies and end the free world’s dependence on “dictator oil,” a major issue today amid Europe’s struggle to wean itself off Russian oil and natural gas.
Cutting taxes is another important part of Poilievre’s platform. What makes Poilievre particularly effective is his ability to communicate how marginal effective tax rates reduce labor effort through campaign videos he has created for YouTube. Viral videos showcasing Poilievre’s intelligence and eloquence when it comes to economic-policy issues and being able to call out illiberal policies on the floor of the House of Commons have played a major role in his rising popularity and ascent to opposition leader.
Beyond Canada, Pierre Poilievre seems to be winning on a small-government platform rather than the platform of big-government, anti-trade, anti-immigration populism that seems to have been contagious among conservative politicians in recent years. With taglines such as “small governments make for bigger citizens” and “I’m running for Prime Minister to give you back control of your life,” Poilievre has perhaps created a new template for free-market conservatives not just in Canada, but around the world.