Pierre Poilievre stuck his parachute landing in an Alberta by-election on Monday, winning 80 per cent of the vote in a riding so deeply blue that anything less would have tainted his comeback.
The Tory Leader is now legitimately off the sidelines and in the game, and his first steps are being closely watched. After his by-election win, Ontario Premier Doug Ford immediately urged him to play for “Team Canada” – in other words, to co-operate with federal and provincial efforts to block or counter whatever tariff punch the U.S. throws next.
But joining the cheerleading squad is not the role of the leader of the opposition in Ottawa, and it’s not Mr. Poilievre’s style. His sole assignment is to hold the Liberal government to account for its actions and inaction, something he did Wednesday when he said, fairly enough, that Prime Minister Mark Carney has made “concession after concession to President [Donald] Trump and he got nothing in return.”
The real issue for this version of Mr. Poilievre is not what he does but how he does it, and how voters receive it.
Will they see the same one-note reciter of rhyming slogans and packaged put-downs – a blunt tactic that worked well when his opposition was a tired Liberal government led by a prime minister who had badly overstayed his welcome?
Or will he demonstrate that he has learned from yet another Conservative general-election loss – and from his ouster from the Ottawa-adjacent riding he’d held for 21 years – that can be fairly blamed on his baffling refusal to switch gears when Mr. Trump changed the stakes, Justin Trudeau stepped aside and Mr. Carney came on the scene?
Mr. Poilievre will choose his own path, but it would serve the interests of Canadians if he holstered the most abrasive aspects of his style and focused instead on thoughtful and credible critiques of the Carney government.
This country is waiting to see what Mr. Carney produces in the way of trade and defence deals with the U.S. and other, more reliable, allies, and how effectively his government lives up to its promise to make Canada’s economy more productive and less reliant on its continental neighbour.
The Prime Minister will have a lot to answer for if his first budget, which he says will come this fall, proves to lack the ambition and scale, and somehow also the fiscal restraint, required of the moment.
If the budget smells too much like a self-serving Liberal confection layered with new spending that conveniently only comes into effect after the next general election (a Trudeau specialty), Mr. Poilievre needs to be in a position to attack it with credibility.
The same will go for any Liberal trade deal that concedes too much to the United States, or for any retaliation to Mr. Trump’s tariffs that is too timid, or for any failure on the part of the government to align itself with other trade and defence partners.
Weakness is not an option. The Liberal government is under intense, self-imposed pressure to come through for Canada in incredibly difficult circumstances. But it’s important to remember that it was rewarded with that responsibility by voters who bought Mr. Carney’s pitch that he was the best person for the task.
His experience as an international banker and economist, and his serious demeanour, convinced enough voters that the gravitas he was selling compensated for his lack of political experience. In short, that he was the grown-up the situation called for.
Mr. Poilievre has political chops few can match. But they won’t do Canadians much good if he continues to rely on canned snark, and on rhyme schemes that Dr. Seuss would reject, as his weapons of choice in Parliament.
Personal political style matters far less at a time like this than does the perception that the person in question is taking the situation seriously and has the capacity to put country – not party, not ego, not social media sarcasm – first.
In truth, there really ought not to be anyone holding a federal seat right now who isn’t seized with the idea that, for the time being, the critical goal of securing Canada’s future trumps all other concerns.
That doesn’t mean Mr. Poilievre needs to put on a Team Canada jersey. On the contrary, what Canadians need in the Leader of the opposition is a fearless critic who, when he calls out the government for any failure to live up to the moment, is actually listened to. |
