Canada First ... For A Change?

It is clear to me that Pierre Poilievre sees this election as his path to power and fortune. His personal ambition greatly exceeds his ambition for the country. “Canada First” as his slogan is so profoundly ironic that I am really not sure where to begin. The last-minute addition of “for a change” is a tacit admission that he hadn’t actually been putting Canada first before.

The irony stems from his slogan being a direct copy-cat of Donald Trump’s “America First,” and is a whole lot deeper if we explore its origins. It is worth reading the linked Foreign Policy In Focus article to get the full scale of how “America First” originated with the Ku Klux Klan and was used by pro-Nazi Americans through the 1930s.

In understanding the values that Poilievre brings to the table, one need only look at his record to see just how he interprets “Canada First.”

On June 11th, 2008, Stephen Harper issued a state apology for the residential schools, a serious blight on Canada’s history that sought specifically to destroy our Indigenous populations and cultures which directly resulted in thousands of deaths, and left inter-generational trauma for countless survivors and their families.

There’s a word for it: genocide.

That same day, Pierre Poilievre, then already a Conservative MP, said on Ottawa’s local right-wing radio station CFRA that Canada was not getting value for its money in the associated compensation, and that the solution is that “we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self reliance” in Canada’s indigenous community, for which he was forced to apologise in the House the following day.

Poilievre has spent the nearly three years he has been Conservative leader rage-baiting Canadian voters and cozying up to the worst elements of the alt-right. He famously delivered coffee among his regular visits to the Ottawa “freedom convoy” in 2022 to show his support, which was decorated with Nazi flags, Confederate flags, Fuck Trudeau flags, Trump flags — and pro-Pierre Poilievre flags, and it helped propel him to the party’s leadership later that year. There is no coincidence.

Early this year, he traveled to the US to do a two hour interview with alt-right incel hero Jordan Peterson, who himself left Canada for good last year. Curious choice of venue for someone who puts Canada first.

Philosophically, Poilievre is completely aligned with Donald Trump. Jenni Byrne, Poilievre’s campaign manager — and ex — shared a photo of herself wearing a red MAGA hat, the de facto armband of the Trump movement, for which there is no evidence that she has any regrets. Alberta premier Danielle Smith’s traitorous relationship with the Trump administration and continued unrebuffed closeness to Poilievre is self-explanatory.

For Poilievre, as Max Fawcett explains so eloquently this week, there’s still a relationship to be had with Trump. While the American dictator has already violated virtually every economic treaty the country has, Poilievre seems to believe renegotiating CUSMA — signed, then violated, by Trump — would actually mean something.

Avoiding Trump’s trade wrath, though, requires being on a very exclusive list. Of all the countries in the world, only Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cuba, North Korea, Palau, Russia, Seychelles, Somalia, and the Vatican have so far avoided Trump’s likely AI-generated tariffs.

From both a policy and messaging point of view, Poilievre is in lock-step with the Trump administration on issues designed to dehumanise his opponents. His anti-trans rhetoric is not about protecting women — quite the contrary. It is about directly targeting a group of people that the majority of his supporters have never actually encountered and fundamentally don’t understand. His attacks on “woke ideology” and higher education mimic Trump’s actions.

His anti-refugee rhetoric is similarly intended to create an other in Canadian society. That his own wife’s uncle crossed into Canada at Roxham Road a year after their wedding and is still in Canada does not seem to faze him, but, according to him, everyone else who crossed there made for a national crisis.

Social progress made under the last decade of Liberal government on dental care, pharmacare, and child care are in danger from Poilievre, who voted against all of those programs and has long refused to commit to retaining them if elected.

While Trump overtly attacks American democracy and the rule of law, and Republicans push the SAVE act to further disenfranchise voters while pretending to protect democracy, it is worth remembering Pierre Poilievre’s only accomplishment as a Minister in Stephen Harper’s cabinet. As Minister for Democratic Reform, Poilievre brought in the “Fair Elections Act”. This was a bill that made it harder to vote and made it harder to investigate electoral fraud, and was brought in as a direct result of the Robocalls scandal where Conservatives attempted to blatantly cheat in the 2011 election. Three years later, Poilievre was forced to enter into a compliance agreement with the Commissioner of Elections for violating Canadian election law himself, which is still in force today. He has also directly attacked Elections Canada, the institution whose sole job it is to guarantee free and fair elections.

What really matters, though, is why Pierre Poilievre wants to be Prime Minister. There is no clear reason for it other than a raw lust for power. He isn’t coming into it with a long term vision to help Canada become a stronger nation, improve the lot of struggling Canadians, or, say, break down interprovincial barriers on trade and credentials. He has no interest in environmental policy, and will support anyone and anything that opposes the Liberals because that’s who he has to defeat to obtain power. His public support includes right wingnuts like Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, and the rage-baiting fake news outlet Rebel News. Given the foreign ties of many of those supporting him, it’s no wonder he refuses to get security clearance.

If you really want to know how Poilievre really feels about any issues, or even what he’s doing on the campaign trail, forget it. He has banned the media from traveling with his campaign and hand-picks which outlets can ask questions on the rare occasion he has a press conference. Like Trump’s obsession with ending non-corporate media by defunding National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, Poilievre’s incessant attacks on the CBC are about cutting off any messaging that isn’t backed by oligarchs, who overwhelmingly own the rest of social and traditional media.

Poilievre’s inspiration for it all is Donald Trump. Becoming Prime Minister to him is an opportunity to obtain the trappings of power, not advance changes for the benefit of his people. He sees the rising oligarchy that threatens Canadian independence and prosperity not as a threat, but as something for him and his family to aspire to join.

That Poilievre says he will put Canada first lacks any credibility; there is no empirical evidence that he has any interest in doing so. It is clear that he would rather be the governor of an American vassal nation than a citizen of a sovereign one. His loyalty is to himself before his country.

Since retaking the White House, Trump has been obsessed with absorbing Canada and taking our resources; waging trade war with Canada specifically to annex our country. While Poilievre and his team try to hide their idolising admiration of the Trump administration, though only during the campaign, what they would really like to do is acquiesce to the President’s wishes — and make Canada fifty-first.

My interpretation of Pierre Poilievre’s campaign (modified image).

Some change.