Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s path to power may be by prosecuting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s past eight years in government, but his road to victory is painted NDP orange.
Appealing to working-class voters in rural and northern ridings — like those held by New Democrats across British Columbia and Liberals in northern Ontario — is part of what Poilievre sees as a winning formula.
That offensive was on full display on Vancouver Island recently as he traversed NDP turf, rallying supporters in Nanaimo and snapping photos with mill workers in Port Alberni. He also stopped at a steel plant and port in B.C.’s Lower Mainland to rub shoulders with workers, images of which lit up his social media.
“We’re seeing Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative party, on the floor of shops and factories,” said Allie Blades, a strategist who worked on his 2022 leadership campaign in B.C.
Blades, who works for Mash Strategy, said it’s a populist approach that so far has served Poilievre well.
“It’s a switch that the Conservatives, I think, have done very rightly and strategically,” she said. “We’re seeing the floor versus the stage.”
The shop floor, of course, is traditional New Democrat territory — home to a critical voting bloc the NDP is not about to surrender without a fight.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh visited a picket line in Winnipeg last week to support workers in a labour dispute — something his principal secretary says Pierre Poilievre has never done. (CBC News)
“You’ve never seen [Poilievre] on a picket line,” said Anne McGrath, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s principal secretary and formerly the party’s national director.
“You can go to shop floors and look at things on a shop floor, but when push comes to shove and workers need support from their political leaders, we’ve never seen him there.”
Poilievre has clearly struck a nerve by tapping into legitimate public anxiety around affordability, McGrath acknowledged, but his message is “simplistic.” So, too, is the choice facing voters, she said.
“They’ve got the big, loud megaphone voice of the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre, or they’ve got the constructive, positive proposals and actions that they can expect from the NDP.”
Selling that will take “a lot of hard work and [a] clear message,” not to mention outreach to voters, she added. The NDP has already begun to ratchet up its attacks on the Conservatives and flood traditionally friendly territory with mailers.
WATCH | Poilievre continues attack on carbon tax:
‘There will be a carbon tax election,’ Poilievre tells supporters in B.C.
6 days ago
Duration 1:47
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says, despite claims to the contrary from the Liberal government, most average Canadian families are paying more in carbon tax than what they receive in rebates.
Conservatives have strong head start in polls
Their battle looks like an uphill one — not only is Poilievre’s message crisp and resonant, but the Conservatives are flush with cash, said Melanie Richer, a former communications director for Singh.
Poilievre’s populist approach has helped the Conservatives smash fundraising records — funds vital to the leader’s aggressive public schedule and outreach to new voters, like those who typically vote NDP.
So far, he’s held 16 rallies and other meet-and-greets this year, six of them in ridings held by the NDP, compared to eight Liberal ones. Throughout 2023, his first full year as leader, the ratio was 12 NDP, 19 Liberal.
Blades said she believes Poilievre’s success with typical NDP voters in places like B.C. is a result of “down-to-earth messaging” that Singh, she argues, “could never authentically achieve.”
B.C. is a province that is deeply affected by the housing crisis as well as the opioid epidemic, both of which Poilievre blames squarely on two factors: the federal Liberal government and its B.C. NDP counterpart.
While critics pan his crusade against the consumer carbon price as an exercise in sloganeering and misinformation, supporters see it as an optimistic message, Blades said — even in B.C., where a provincial carbon price has been in place for years.
WATCH | Jagmeet Singh on the departure of NDP veterans:
Singh says departing NDP MPs leave ‘big shoes to fill’
3 days ago
Duration 0:42
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said that while it’s tough to see veteran NDP MPs Rachel Blaney, Carol Hughes and Charlie Angus move on from politics, the party has “lots of exciting candidates” ready to replace them.
It also can’t hurt Conservative fortunes that the NDP is bleeding caucus members. Six MPs have already left or said they won’t run again, including three just last week — one of whom was Charlie Angus, a 20-year fixture for the party in northern Ontario.
Richer said it’s time for the NDP to reflect on its relationship with working-class voters, many of whom have been drifting away from the party since the death of Jack Layton in 2011.
“We’re just not connecting with them,” she said.
Richer urged the party to be more vocal about the role it played in securing Liberal commitments on national pharmacare and dental care plans through its supply-and-confidence agreement with the government. So far, efforts to do that have borne little fruit.
She pointed to Manitoba, where NDP Premier Wab Kinew secured a historic election win last year by confronting public anger “and gave people hope instead.”
LISTEN | What’s the future of the NDP?
The House12:44Taking the NDP’s temperature
NDP stalwarts are saying a final goodbye to Ed Broadbent this weekend as the former leader and elder statesman is being honoured with a state funeral in Ottawa. Broadbent believed the NDP is most effective when it poses a political threat. But is that still the case? NDP strategists Mike McKinnon and Melanie Richer talk about the health of the NDP movement.
Poilievre’s office did not respond to a request for comment about whether a Conservative government would maintain a federal dental care plan. He’s also been non-committal on pharmacare.
Union leaders say the Conservative frontman borrows the language of the working class, but in fact poses a threat to organized labour, citing his frequent support for back-to-work legislation over 20 years in Parliament.
The party has been working hard to rehabilitate its image with unions, with its MPs backing a Liberal bill — spurred by the NDP — to ban replacement workers during lockouts and strikes in federally regulated workplaces.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
