By taking concrete action on key issues for Albertans, PM Mark Carney is trying to send a message that he wants the federation to work better for Alberta, says pollster Janet Brown. Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he and his MPs will campaign for Alberta to remain part of Canada.
National messaging built around B.C.’s property rights debate risks oversimplifying a complex legal reality, while a failure to communicate has ‘ceded the stage to fear and misinformation,’ say pundits.
In case you missed it, the former federal Conservative leader recently told the media that Pierre Poilievre needs to ‘moderate’ his political views. That counsel might seem totally reasonable. So why do I think it’s bad? There are many reasons.
When there’s no threat of an election on the horizon, political fundraising is tough.
Voters are fed up with performative politics in this moment of global and economic disruption. So, out with the Bibles-as-props, dog whistles, personal slurs and red-faced rants; in with respectful, fact-based debate, and intelligent compromise.
The Liberal government faces a tough road ahead, with plenty of potential pitfalls and tough decisions ahead. Despite how things look now, the Conservatives will likely still get their chance.
It is often easier to turf a leader than unite as a movement, fight for shared values, and work through differences behind closed doors.
When the working response is that it’s always somebody else’s fault, it starts to come across as pathetic.
Pierre Poilievre has flunked the most basic test for any leader, advancing his party’s prospects to portray it as a government-in-waiting. But it will be waiting a long time under the status quo. Admittedly, part of the reason that the CPC has set up permanent residence in the political wilderness has to do with the current prime minister.
Conservative MP Mike Dawson is continuing his fight against accepting the annual pay raise, and says the issue will be discussed at this month’s Commons Board of Internal Economy meeting. Meanwhile, former Liberal MP Joe Jordan says competitive salaries are critical to attract top talent to Parliament.
So far, it seems the Conservatives are not exactly dismissing the polls like John Diefenbaker once did, nor are they talking about their own internal polls, but they are trying to make it clear that all the bad numbers splashing around the media aren’t causing them to panic.
Beating Mark Carney’s Liberals is a test of endurance, not a short-term sprint, and the opposition leader’s team seems to have finally rejigged his training regime.
Attempts to contribute to Canada’s post-NAFTA rebuild are welcome, but it’ll take more than a few overseas gigs and a podcast to convince people the Conservatives have finally realized the Trudeau punching bag is gone.
Not taking Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seriously would be a serious miscalculation, and the Liberals would do so at their own peril. The Liberals also should not get cocky.
Pollsters point to affordability challenges and the potential for rising unemployment rates as circumstances that could derail the Liberals’ popularity. ‘There are a lot of, I’ll call it, negative uncertainties out there that will start to pile up. That’s why I said it’s going to be interesting to see how patient Canadians will be with Mark Carney,’ says Nik Nanos.
The Conservative plan would remove GST from cars made in Canada, scrap the feds’ electric vehicle mandates, bring back tariffs on Chinese EVs, and more.
As long as Donald Trump is in the White House—as long as this bigoted, belligerent bully is calling the shots—moving closer to the U.S. will be a non-starter in Canada. In his latest political makeover, the Conservative leader would do well to bear that in mind.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s trip to the U.K. and Germany with his message of stoicism may help rebuild moderate Tory support, ‘but you can’t out-Carney Carney,’ say observers.
Are we a country that prioritizes our principles, our morality that we wear as part of the Canadian Exceptionalism package? Or are we a country whose decisions in foreign policy are dictated by trade?
But pollster Nik Nanos also says he thinks Iran is ‘the new wildcard’ in public opinion. He will be looking to see if it has changed Canadians’ perceptions of Prime Minister Mark Carney or if it’s led to more concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions.
Conservatives are still competitive with the Liberals. The only difference is Pierre Poilievre is significantly behind Mark Carney in high margin on who is best placed to lead the country, says pollster Darrell Bricker.
Arguably, at no time in our current history has it been more important for Canada to take our show on the road now that our trade relationship with the U.S. has changed.
The Liberals’ popularity tends to go up when people focus on Canada-U.S. relations, but the party loses points when affordability becomes the central issue, says pollster Greg Lyle.
Pierre Poilievre is not done as Conservative leader, but neither is he back on solid ground.
