Pierre Poilievre discusses his goals with Jordan Peterson

(Ottawa) Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre granted a lengthy interview to Jordan Peterson, a psychologist and media personality, discussing his vision for Canada and how he plans to implement it.

Here’s what we learned from the interview, which was recorded on December 21 and posted online on Friday:

Elections now

Pierre Poilievre has no qualms about a federal election taking place during a possible Liberal leadership race. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing growing calls, including from within his own caucus, to resign.

“Canadians don’t have to — 41 million people don’t have to wait for this party to fix its problems. These guys could have gotten rid of Justin Trudeau a year and a half ago. »

Big energy companies ‘completely stupid’

Mr. Poilievre criticized the Canadian energy sector for appearing to adhere to liberal policies, particularly on the environment.

“Canada’s big five oil companies have idiot lobbyists. They have brilliant workers, incredible workers, but idiot lobbyists. And they’ve been trying to court others for 10 years and have done nothing to support good policies in the years before that. So this will have to change. »

He considers his opposition to be communist

The Conservative leader argued that the prime minister has governed with “an extremely radical ideology” that is “fundamentally authoritarian socialism.” According to him, the NDP would have done exactly the same thing if it had been in power.

He also argued that “it’s a classic for socialists” to try to repudiate what they’ve done and change their name.

“First they were communists, then they became socialists, then they became social democrats. […] They stole the word liberal, then they ruined that word. They changed their name to progressives, then they changed their name to woke. And now they claim they don’t want to be called wokes anymore,” he said.

Lots of land

Pierre Poilievre argued that Canada’s housing shortage is an “entirely political” problem because the country has a very large land area.

“It should be very cheap, because we have the most land. We just need to get rid of the government,” he stressed.

“There is no physical or geographic reason why Canada should struggle to provide people with great opportunities for homeownership and family formation. »

He will not moderate

Mr. Poilievre assured that he would not try to move his policies to the center or the left, saying that would only lead to bad results and that it is “the mistake that conservative parties around the world have committed countless times.”

“Is there a temptation to try to attack the socialists’ policies in the short term? Sure, but it’s a temptation I will fiercely resist, because I know that by the fourth year of my term, people will be enraged because their lives will be even worse. »

He also said he would focus on issues facing Canadian families rather than tackling global issues.

“People are tired of grandiloquence,” he argued, rejecting “this horrible utopian wokism” that serves “selfish personalities at the top” instead of “ordinary people.”

Canada first

“We are not interested in the ethnocultural conflicts of the world,” said Mr. Poilievre, praising multiculturalism, but asserting that people who come to Canada must leave their baggage in their country of origin.

“Most people come here to escape these things. So by returning to a common sense of values ​​and identity, and reminding people that they are […] when they arrive here, they are first Canadians. Canada first. Drop the hyphens; we don’t need to be a hyphenated society. »

He urged Canadians to “put aside race, this obsession with race that Wokism has reintroduced. »

Mr Poilevre also echoed comments he had previously made when asked about the Pride events, saying he wanted people to be “judged on the basis of their individual character and their humanity, rather than their group identity. »

His plan to grow the economy

“We are going to reduce bureaucracy, reduce the number of consultants, reduce foreign aid, reduce social assistance for big businesses. We will use the savings to reduce the deficit and taxes and unleash the free enterprise system,” Mr. Poilievre promised.

He plans to slash the Liberals’ mega-project regulatory reform “to bring about a massive resource boom in our country” and generate enough electricity to power data centers.

“We will restore monetary discipline to bring down inflation (and) stop the printing of money,” he said, arguing that because Parliament does not vote on the printing of money, “the “inflation is adopted in secret”.

The Bank of Canada has refuted claims it prints money to finance the federal government. She said buying bonds lowered interest rates so people could weather the COVID-19 pandemic, and it didn’t involve printing money.

He lists his stars

When asked to list “the people who will be essential” in a Poilievre government, he cited four MPs from his front bench.

Former House leader and Speaker Andrew Scheer, who can navigate the “procedural maneuvers” in Parliament.

Infrastructure critic Leslyn Lewis, whom he praised for her work on the issue. She ran for party leadership against Pierre Poilievre and supported a petition calling for Canada to withdraw from the United Nations.

“Newcomers like Jamil Jivani,” a former radio host who has a direct relationship with U.S. Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Deputy Chief Melissa Lantsman, who is “extremely well-liked in Toronto (and) well-known across the country.”

A form of repression

The Conservative promised “the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history, a massive crackdown” but didn’t elaborate when Jordan Peterson asked what that meant, other than saying “habitual offenders don’t will no longer come out of prison.

Peterson is an advocate for free speech

Jordan Peterson was required by the College of Psychologists of Ontario to complete a remedial coaching program after conduct on social media that the College deemed degrading and posed a risk to the public.

Mr. Peterson lost three attempts to appeal the 2022 ruling, saying his freedom of speech had been interfered with. His posts on

Mr. Poilievre thanked Jordan Peterson for his “tremendous courage” in standing up for his beliefs.

“You had a spine of steel, and there are countless others who will have the freedom to express themselves because you paid the price for them. »

Stronger than yesterday

When asked how he had changed since becoming Conservative leader in the fall of 2022, Pierre Poilievre mentioned that he had learned to “roll with the punches” while taking on “special interests” at across Canada.

“I would say I’m tougher,” he said. I withstood those blows and, as a result, I feel stronger now. »

Opposition from his political rivals

The Liberals and NDP responded to the interview by denouncing the fact that Jordan Peterson’s podcast episode received support from an Indiana-based Christian anti-abortion group that seeks to protect “unborn” babies.

Friday’s interview includes an ad from the group PreBorn, which is seeking donations. She tells the story of a woman who tried to order an abortion pill, but it never arrived “by the will of God” and the group eventually convinced her to give birth.

“The Conservatives and Jordan Peterson are attacking women’s rights,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a post on X that focused on the ad, but said nothing about the interview itself.

In another message published later in the day, the New Democrat attacked American billionaire Elon Musk, who welcomed the interview on social media.

“Elon Musk and other billionaires support Pierre Poilievre because if he wins, they will get richer,” he wrote. “Mr. Poilievre made it clear in this interview that he would cut health care costs and much more. It will reduce your expenses to give CEOs what they want. »

The Liberal Party also posted a message about Mr. Poilievre’s participation in “a podcast sponsored by an anti-abortion group.”

Abortion was not discussed during the interview.