OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre debuted his sternest words yet for U.S. President Donald Trump, as the question of who is best suited to handle his threats appears to be quickly becoming the defining issue of the next election.
Poilievre walked through the line of 13 Canadian flags assembled to reach his podium on Friday at a moment when millions of Canadians are increasingly seeing red over Trump.
Anger is brewing not only because of Trump’s imposition of 25 per cent tariffs, which he decided on Thursday would be paused until next month, save for the levies on steel and aluminum that the president vowed are coming next week, but also Trump’s attitude towards Canada, which can summed up by his repeated desire for it to become a state.
Trump’s hostility has led to a resurgence of national pride, with consumers declining to buy American goods and fans booing the U.S. anthem in sports arenas.
Even the man behind the fictional “Joe Canada” character from a Molson Canadian beer commercial from two decades ago resurrected the beloved role to give Canadians a rallying crying at a time they feel their sovereignty has been shaken.
And against the backdrop of Trump another revival is happening. This time, a political one.
With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his way out, after announcing his resignation in January, and two-time former central banker Mark Carney expected to win the Liberal leadership contest to replace him on Sunday, the Conservatives’ year-and-a-half lead over the Liberals appears to keep narrowing, as Canadians are preoccupied with Trump.
Poilievre seemed to acknowledge the cultural and political moment the country finds itself in on Friday when he began by offering some direct words to the president himself, before taking aim at Carney.
“My message to the president is this: Knock if off. Stop the chaos. You are hurting your workers, your consumers and most immediately destroying trillions of dollars of wealth on your own stock market.”
“You’re attacking a cherished friend of the United States and you’re strengthening America’s enemies by going after America’s friends.”
It marked one of the first times Poilievre has so directly taken aim at Trump. Even before Canadians felt the reality of Trump’s tariffs, Liberals and other critics of the Conservative leader having been drawing comparisons to his Republican counterpart.
Carney plans to make that case to Canadians.
He did so at a rally in Montreal Thursday night, telling the crowd that Poilievre was not the right leader for the current moment and accused him of worshipping at the president’s feet.
Carney also challenged Poilievre latest pitch to Canadians that he puts “Canada First” by contrasting that against his record of saying “Canada is broken.”
Poilievre has raised eyebrows in some circles further on the political right about his support for retaliatory tariffs in the first place.
In a sit-down last month with Candace Malcolm, the right-wing media host questioned Poilievre’s support of hitting back at the U.S. with countermeasures.
“A tariff that Canada imposes is really just a 25 per cent tax on the goods that we import,” Malcolm said.
“It’s a 25 per cent tax on what Canadians pay for, so why is a Conservative leader agreeing with basically a 25 per cent Liberal tax increase?”
After disagreeing that he supports anything like a “Liberal tax increase,” Poilievre argued that any tariff-related revenue must be put towards a tax cut.
“There’s no question tariffs are taxes. That’s why they’re bad, but we have to defend our country and our industrial base if it comes under unfair and unprovoked attack by a foreign government and cut other taxes to neutralize the effect of that unfortunate, but unnecessary, action.”
While the party sees some overlap between its supporters and those who favour Trump, Poilievre was quick to embrace the president’s message last week when he told a British magazine he did not think too highly of the Canadian Conservative, saying Poilievre’s biggest problem is that he isn’t “a MAGA guy.”
Poilievre pointed to Trump’s dislike of him when answering questions before reporters this week after Trump hit Canada with 25 per cent tariffs, saying “it is true that I am Canada first.”
“I’m only for Canada, I’m fighting for the interest of this people and this country. And if that upsets foreign leaders, including the American president, I’m fine with that.”
Such was the point Poilievre hammered home to a crowd in Ottawa when he staged his “Canada First” rally last month, where he showcased his promises to make Canada more competitive and bolster its border security at a time when its trust in the Americans to help defend its sovereignty and boost trade appears to be waning.
It also an attempt to shift his message, which some Conservative insiders and members felt he was too slow to do.
On that stage, standing in front of a gigantic Canadian flag with a word “Canada” blown up in large letters nearby as another patriotic touch, Poilievre laid out the options for, as he put it, Canada’s “American friends.”
Either the U.S. keep attacking its closest ally with tariffs that will trigger retaliation, or both nations work together to increase trade and business even more.
Almost three weeks to the day when Poilievre delivered that speech, which is largely expected to be the theme of the Conservative campaign in an election that could be triggered before the end of the month, he repeated those options once again.
This time, however, he dropped “friends” for Trump’s name instead.
“Stop tariffing our country and stop the monthly melodrama that is hurting our economies on both sides of the border,” Poilievre said.
With Trump threatening even more tariffs, now taking aim at Canada’s dairy industry on Friday, Poilievre is likely to stick with his tougher tone.
National Post
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