Pierre Poilievre is likely to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
The man is viewed with suspicion by the media, which portrays him as a menacing little Canadian Trump. Hence the warnings.
For my part, when the media curses a man, I want to see if he deserves the unflattering reputation he gets.
It goes without saying that many of Pierre Poilievre’s ideas are very questionable and some seem downright far-fetched – need we add that Justin Trudeau’s ideas are just as much?
Canada
But are these ideas enough to explain the reluctance to run for office?
The answer is simple: no.
We will understand this uneasiness only if we place his candidacy in a general view of the Canadian political scene, which is far less pluralistic than we think.
There is something of an obligatory ideology in Ottawa. It is carried by the courts, the federal bureaucracy, and the media (think Radio-Canada and the CRTC these days).
It is a form of the radical cultural left, literally hypnotized by multiculturalism, ready to face any claim so long as it waves the banner of diversity.
If you want to make a career in Ottawa, you have to accept it. Otherwise, it is accused of being retrograde and toxic.
And it is precisely on the basis of this ideology that Jean Charest puts the candidate Poilievre on trial. Unashamedly, Charest presents himself as the guardian of the respectable Conservative Party to those who wish to “radicalize” it.
His followers even accuse Poilievre of falling into “hate” and “division”. Not surprisingly, these are the words normally used to discredit a political opponent, to disqualify him, to drive him from the circle of respectability.
Conversely, Jean Charest is silent when it comes to denouncing the fanaticism that emanates from American universities and contaminates Canadian politics. It is ideologically compatible with Trudeauism.
Furthermore, one can believe that once he loses his race, he will try to destroy the Conservative Party.
However, and it should be noted, Pierre Poilievre does not directly embrace the prevailing Canadian ideology. Rather, he positions himself as a libertarian populist. But he is suspected of not being enthusiastic about Canadian ideology.
democracy
And the fact is that in English Canada there are populations that are critical of multiculturalism, gender theory, wokism, the new progressive censorship. But they do not have the right to express themselves directly. They are likely to be found in the insurgent climate of the Poilievre campaign.
On all of these issues, the only structured disagreement is that of Quebec.
Coming back to that, the Conservative race is interesting in that there is one candidate who is being treated by the Canadian establishment as a troublemaker who needs to be put down.
It’s not about promoting him, it’s about making sure that his candidacy shows how democratically stifled and allergic to debates of ideas Canadian politics is.
