Pierre Poilievre takes to another U.S. podcast to sketch out his vision for Canada

South of the border — first on the Joe Rogan Experience and Thursday on Steve Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast — Poilievre outlined similar messages and fleshed out his political thinking in ways he rarely does in Canada.

In the dual lengthy two-hourish interviews (if you subtract the jock talk with Rogan), Poilievre rooted his political view of economic and personal freedom in his upbringing and readings as a young Conservative.

In the latest podcast with Bartlett, recorded in Los Angeles when Poilievre was travelling on his U.S. tour, he blasted “wokeism” and DEI or diversity, equity and inclusion policies as the enemy of freedom and meritocracy, explained his proposal to curb immigration as different than Trump’s ICE-driven deportations, and called for deeper, not weaker, Canada-U.S. trade ties.

The tone of the two forays were strikingly different, however.

On Rogan’s podcast, Poilievre fanboyed over his host. He gave Rogan the gift of a custom-made kettlebell, quizzed the showboating entertainer about his fight club days and heroes, and mainly aligned in broad terms with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pitch that America needs Canadian energy and resources.

Where Poilievre disagreed with Carney — for example, on the fact that the Trump tariff dispute is a temporary disruption in a long-running partnership not a “rupture” in Canada-U.S. relations as Carney calls it — the Conservative leader skimmed over their differences. His explanation/pledge not to criticize Canada’s government leader but to put his country first while abroad won plaudits in Canada.

On Bartlett’s podcast, he did the same, pulling punches as he insisted he supports the Liberal government’s efforts to get a trade deal although they may have different ideas. 

The Conservative leader adopted a less chummy, more serious tone vis-à-vis the host of Diary of a CEO — a show that has a huge global audience — engaging respectfully and substantively on policy and personal questions — an interview wife Ana Poilievre hyped on X as “the most in-depth interview Pierre has ever done.”

Poilievre revealed a few policy tidbits. He opposes Canada having nuclear arms, saying there is no need; he believes the rapid field of AI technology should be developed and regulated in such a way to add or enhance meaning, purpose and agency in people’s lives, but offered no detail about how government should deal with inevitable job losses.

He parried questions about his “roller coaster” election loss to rookie Liberal Leader Mark Carney, and refused to “make excuses” for the crushing defeat, which saw him lose his own seat. Poilievre said it happened because other parties bled support to the Liberals, not that the Conservatives lost support.

Poilievre admitted he was disappointed because he felt he’d let down hardworking Canadians who’d counted on him but said he “didn’t spend a lot of time” dwelling on the emotional fallout of the loss.

Repeating he believes he must focus only on what he can control, Poilievre also refused to second-guess whether he could have won, if only Donald Trump had not tariffed Canada and made his offensive 51^st state threats.

Overall, Poilievre revealed more personal details of his history growing up as an adopted son and brother, and grew emotional recalling how his adoptive mother “graciously” supported him connecting as a young man with the woman who had given him up for adoption as a 16-year-old.

He spoke at length about family life as the father of a non-verbal daughter with autism, and a son, both of whom clearly bring him great joy.

Asked if his political views had changed since he was 17 and wrote a winning “As Prime Minister” essay, he said he has “matured” in temperament since becoming a father.

On the Bartlett podcast, as the Rogan one, Poilievre didn’t make big news headlines for what he said.

But that he said anything so extensively in a situation where he did not control the questions or outcome is noteworthy. Bartlett hailed him for that, saying he wished more politicians would do so.

Both these podcasts are bound not only to be heard by Americans but are designed to also draw Canadian eyes and ears to Poilievre. 

And his office was making sure Canadian media pay attention, circulating press releases about the podcasts, pulling clips and flagging what the leader’s team sees as high points.

The fact remains, however, that as Toronto Star columnist Justin Ling first pointed out, Poilievre has long avoided giving any such access to mainstream Canadian media. The Star has repeatedly asked Poilievre for interviews, most recently last month about the U.S. trip. His office has not responded to those requests.

The closest the Conservative leader has come to giving that kind of access in Canada was to appear on a podcast recently hosted by Peter Mansbridge, the former CBC anchor who is now the advertising voice of choice for reverse-mortgages and Korean submarines.

The Conservatives were angry when Mansbridge failed to flag that his ad campaign for the Korean Hanwa consortium would air as he questioned Poilievre about the upcoming submarine contract on that podcast.

Now, they hope that American podcasters can do the job they don’t think Canadian media outlets can.