Pierre Poilievre presents himself as a hard-scrabble populist. Away from the cameras, the truth is very different.

Pierre Poilievre presents himself as a hard-scrabble populist. Away from the cameras, the truth is very different.

Updated 10 hrs ago
June 27, 2024


The contrast between the images of Justin Trudeau, the blue-blood patrician, and Pierre Poilievre, the hard-scrabble populist, has been powerful, and likely a key factor in helping Poilievre vault far ahead of Trudeau in the polls, writes Linda McQuaig.

By Linda McQuaig, Contributing Columnist

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/pierre-poilievre-presents-himself-as-a-hard-scrabble-populist-away-from-the-cameras-the-truth/article_818f9d4a-33d3-11ef-876b-07731797c440.html?

"SNIP...........

Meanwhile, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a scrappy guy with modest Alberta roots, has been traversing the country describing Canada as a “living hell” for working class people, and promising that “when I’m prime minister my obsession — my daily obsession — will be about what is good for the working-class people of this country.”

The contrast between the images of the blue-blood patrician and the hard-scrabble populist has been powerful, and likely a key factor in helping Poilievre vault far ahead of Trudeau in the polls.

But Poilievre has managed to pass himself off as anti-elitist and populist largely because Canadians have heard little about all the time he spends — when the cameras aren’t rolling — courting the country’s business elite.

Even as Poilievre has attacked corporate lobbyists — vowing they won’t be able to shape policy under his Conservative government as they have under the Liberals — he’s been consorting with a wide range of corporate lobbyists at about 50 extravagant private fundraising events across the country since being chosen party leader almost two years ago.

...........SNIP"