“MAGA with maple syrup” or “docile populist”: who is Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservatives in Canada?

Published on January 7, 2025 at 11:45. / Modified on January 7, 2025 at 12:02.

4 mins. reading

“We will stop being stupid when I am prime minister.” Pierre Poilievre is neither lace nor nuance. The leader of the Canadian Conservatives wants – and will, according to his comments in the Financial Post, January 3 – take the reins of the country. On Monday, the resignation of Justin Trudeau brought him a little closer to this objective: the government could fall when the parliamentary session resumes in March with, as a result, early elections in the spring.

Pierre Poilievre, 45 years old and with his hair carefully arranged, has reason to be jubilant. Under his leadership, the Conservative Party of Canada, which led the country from 2006 to 2015, is leading the polls. At the end of December, an opinion poll gave him an advantage of more than 20 points against Trudeau’s Liberal Party (PLC, center) and the New Democratic Party (NDP, center left). The man, from the radical wing of the right, is therefore logically perceived as the big favorite for the next elections. In December, the press also named him “personality of the year” ahead of Justin Trudeau and Céline Dion. “By harassing the government on the cost of living and the housing crisis, he dominated the speech in Ottawa through the simplicity of his message and put Trudeau’s liberal leadership on the ropes,” noted the then Toronto Star.

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