Pierre Poilievre delivered the Conservative response to Donald Trump’s tariff mania on Saturday, which consisted of three prongs: national pride, self-sufficiency and, above all, sovereignty.
“Let me be clear,” he told the crowd at Ottawa’s Rogers Centre. “We will never be the 51st state. We will bear any burden and pay any price to protect the sovereignty and independence of our country.”
In an hour-long speech, he recognized Canada’s long history of friendship with the United States, but stood his ground when it came to defending Canada. As far as the relationship with the U.S. goes, it’s the exact tone he needs to hit right now: the low growl of a normally agreeable wolf backed into a corner, ready to fight if need be — distinguished, of course, from Chrsytia Freeland’s yappy Pomeranian-headed-into-a-pit-fight act.
“We have to be prepared for the worst,” Poilievre said. “Simply put, we can no longer depend on the Americans alone for our trade. We can no longer think of them as our backup defence. These threats, my friends, are a wake-up call. We should be the wealthiest and most self-reliant economy in the world today.”
As for how to get there, Poilievre stuck to a familiar set of promises. Retaliatory tariffs, targeted to maximally impact American companies, and using the proceeds to support the most tariff-impacted businesses at home was one piece, was a pitch first made two weeks ago. Cutting the carbon tax and scraping Bill C-69, the Liberal law that gummed up the ability for industry to build, were others.
He also supported the construction of an east-west pipeline (not a new sentiment), as well as the immediate granting of permits for mining in the Ontario “Ring of Fire” — a remote region loaded with critical minerals (not quite a new idea; as he’d already planned to unlock it prior). And, on border control and crime, he re-iterated promises to jail druglords for life and beef up border security.
Importantly, Poilievre diagnosed the big-picture problem that has made Canada so vulnerable to American bullying in the first place: a lack of interest in cultivating national pride. Here, Poilievre repeated promises to restore the old Canadian passport which featured national symbols (rather than the Liberal-updated version decorated with generic vector art) and build more national monuments. Newly added to the list was a plan to expand the Cadet Corps.
The themes aren’t new (in Conservative circles at least; the same can’t be said for the last four weeks of Liberal faux-patriotism). What is new, however, is the context around them: the American president’s jokes, or threats, of annexation; the on-and-off tariff war; the even-darker economic reality that’s floating just over the horizon; and the Liberals’ sudden interest in appropriating longtime Conservative priorities as their own.
So, it’s more important than ever that Poilievre stake his claim on these ideas, refusing to allow his opponents to poach them. He’s very aware of this: “First, the Liberals said I had no policies. Then they said my policies were scary. Now they pretend dishonestly to agree with all my policies, 60 days before an election. I take it as a compliment, but don’t believe them for a minute.”
Which is why it’s puzzling that the Conservative leader is holding himself back. He knows very well that Liberal convergence on policy is a threat especially now that Trump has decided to use Canada as a trade punching bag. It’s reflected in his shrinking lead in the polls. Yet, he’s careful to draw a detour around certain hot-button issues that his party should have in the bag.
Immigration received zero real mention in Poilievre’s Saturday speech (aside from the familiar pledges to streamline professional credential recognition for immigrants and strengthen border security). But immigration is an issue of top concern in Canada — Ipsos puts it on par with taxes, below only inflation and health care — where people now have to compete with the world for jobs and housing.
Poilievre did at least say he’d restore Harper-era levels of immigration in a recent interview with Juno News, which would still mean incoming numbers as high as 250,000 per year.
Nor did he talk about de-Liberalizing the federal government, which has been co-opted to funnel taxpayer funds into politically aligned non-profits, court programs and activist groups. He did, of course, talk about cutting costs generally, as well as foreign aid, but that’s only one piece of the greater puzzle.
Saturday’s speech was good, but it wasn’t Poilievre at his full power. He, and/or his team, want to shed his committee attack dog image and replace it with something more fuzzy. They want to craft a benevolent, no-nonsense, “Canada First” dad — and avoid, at all costs, sounding mean.
But it also means avoiding the very topics the Liberals would dare not touch — the topics that would be certain to differentiate him from the rest. It’s a safe play, at least.
National Post