The audience has changed. Pierre Poilievre has not

Despite his conciliatory trip to New York, for the Conservative leader, the politics of permanent confrontation is colliding with an electorate craving reassurance.
On a recent New York trip, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre refused to criticize the prime minister ‘on foreign soil.' It read as a course correction, but one co-operative appearance abroad doesn’t undo years of hostility at home, writes Bhagwant Sandhu.
Opinion
BY BHAGWANT SANDHU
September 15, 2026

OTTAWA—In the novels of Gabriel García Márquez, power rarely disappears when its legitimacy ends. It lingers, performing itself long after its authority has eroded.

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