Unfortunately, he won’t stay quiet. So Pierre Poilievre needs to stop reminding Canadians of the U.S. president.
Pity poor Pierre Poilievre.
You study your whole life for an exam only to find out at the last minute that the subject has changed and that your fellow student, your rival for class president from next door, is a subject matter expert. Talk about rotten luck.
But this bad fortune is Poilievre’s new reality. The candidate for re-election in Carleton riding isn’t going to get another exam question. Absent Donald Trump popping his clogs in the next few weeks, the U.S. president and what to do about him will be the ballot question in the minds of Canadians. And Mark Carney, the candidate for Nepean is, at present, coming up trumps.
In response, Poilievre and the Conservatives are trying to answer both sets of exam questions, old and new, in the hopes this feat of mental and rhetorical dexterity will impress voters. Poilievre’s speech on Wednesday positioned him very carefully across two horses. The Conservative campaign was meant to be a referendum on Justin Trudeau’s damage to Canada; the election is now a referendum on Donald Trump’s damage to our country. Poilievre addressed the latter, promising toughness, but would rather people focused on the former.
And it’s no wonder. Poilievre was Canada’s foremost expert on how Trudeau was a bain to the country and its ordinary hardworking folks, whether in Ottawa or elsewhere. There is no question the Conservative leader has the best answers to the problem that no longer exists. “Axe the tax”? Poilievre asked for it — for years. But Carney delivered it. Now what?
Which isn’t to say that Poilievre is wrong in his contention that Canada’s problems “predate Donald Trump and will outlast Donald Trump.” But the country’s problems will most definitely be made worse by what Trump is trying to do by reordering global trade. Canada is one of the world’s most trade-exposed economies. If the U.S. president throws a wrench into the workings of global trade, Canada gets clobbered alongside everyone else.
And while the president’s “Liberation Day” show appears to have spared Canada from the worst new tariffs, it is no guarantee the Trump of tomorrow will continue to oblige. The man lives on whims. Moreover, a man as wedded to illogical beliefs as Trump, whether on trade or other subjects, cannot be persuaded by logic.
Which makes most of our election a charade. Nobody, if we’re being honest, can “contain” Trump. Or have a “better relationship” with him. These things are not possible. What voters are really looking for is someone who does not resemble Trump in any way. And that’s Carney, not Poilievre.
Nobody, if we’re being honest, can “contain” Trump. Or have a “better relationship” with him.
Somewhat paradoxically, this means Poilievre must continue to focus on Canada, not Trump. He must stick to the exam he prefers, not the one that has been thrust in front of him. But — and this is the important part — he must do so in a way that doesn’t remind Canadians of Trump. Every “cheating Carney” or “Carney is compromised by China” uttered from Poilievre’s lips reminds voters of Trump, not of Carney’s alleged sins. Conservatives must stifle the urge to go “elbows up” against their opposition.
The best the Conservatives can hope for is that Trump goes quiet now that he has apparently liberated the U.S. (and global) economy from the aggregate prosperity it has enjoyed over the past 40 or so years. Once markets absorb the damage, minds might turn to what ought to be done about it within Canada. Here, the Liberals would have to fight Conservative policy with policy of their own. Against the backdrop of their 10-year record in office. Here, the Conservatives would have a chance at recovery.
But there I go again, thinking Trump will behave rationally. Trump is as likely to take back all of his tariffs once enough countries stump up enough concessions as he is to go quiet. And then he is just as likely to threaten to bring tariffs back a few weeks later. There is still enough time in our election for another two cycles of Trump madness.
Good luck acing that test, Conservatives.
Andrew MacDougall is a London-based communications consultant and ex-director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper.
