To fix a chronically short-staffed health care system, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has proposed certifying immigrant doctors and nurses within 60 days, rather than the current two-year average wait.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre opened a speech to Bay Street executives on Friday by expressing his personal disdain for Bay Street.
It was as awkward as it sounds. And bit rich coming from a politician fresh from a fundraiser hosted by executives at investment dealer Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.
Fortunately for all concerned, the politician likely to be the next prime minister finished his remarks to a packed house at the C.D. Howe Institute sounding, well, prime ministerial.
To win an election, Mr. Poilievre is clearly going to keep bashing perceived elites and playing the populist. To actually run the country, the Conservative Leader will need to roll out fresh ideas – and a refreshing acceptance of accountability. And he did just that, drawing numerous rounds of applause from what started as a skeptical business audience.
Mr. Poilievre’s scorn for Bay Street seems rooted in a view that a crowd whose most difficult decision around food is whether to have cod or chicken from the C.D. Howe’s buffet is out of touch with what he called the “living hell” facing working class Canadians, who are struggling to put meals on the table. It came across as patronizing, bordering on offensive.
Name a social problem facing Canada: housing, health care, food security, rural and Indigenous telecom coverage. On Friday, Mr. Poilievre stood before a room full of executives working on solving the issues, as leaders of banks, hospitals, grocers and pension plans, and as infrastructure investors.
A pro-business politician running on a platform of shrinking government is going to need the private sector to do far more. So why alienate CEOs?
To his credit, Mr. Poilievre spent the back half of his remarks giving concrete examples of how he plans to get the country working better. He’s got a plan for his first day as prime minister, his first 100 days and his first four years.
To get more homes built, a Conservative government would partner with the provinces and tie municipal transfers to hitting targets on housing starts. To fix a chronically short-staffed health care system, Mr. Poilievre proposed certifying immigrant doctors and nurses within 60 days, rather than the current two-year average wait. To rein in deficits, the cost of any new project would have to be matched with a similar-sized spending cut.
To boost both the oil patch and the country’s standing with energy-starved allies in Asia and Europe, a Poilievre government would remove regulatory roadblocks to liquefied natural gas pipelines and terminals. There is a detailed analysis of energy policy underlying Mr. Poilievre’s “axe the carbon tax” sound bite.
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For the Bay Street crowed, the Conservative Leader also gave comfort with what he didn’t say. Mr. Poilievre didn’t mention cryptocurrencies or COVID-19 vaccinations. He didn’t threaten to fire the current Bank of Canada’s Governor. He stuck to justified criticism of federal government policies that have allowed both inflation and deficits to soar.
In the final act of the event, Mr. Poilievre set aside his script to take questions. An aerospace executive asked for his view on the federal government’s decision to award a $10.4-billion contract for maritime patrol aircraft to U.S. defence giant Boeing Co. The move angered backers of a rival, made-in-Canada aircraft built by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc.
Rather than simply bash the federal Liberals for picking a side, Mr. Poilievre used the question to show respect for the taxpayer’s dollar. He acknowledged he didn’t know enough about the Boeing contract to express an informed view, a welcome sign of humility.
He went on to say that for generations, governments of all political stripes have made a mess of procurement: Billions of dollars have been wasted, with little accountability. He pledged to do better for the public, and for those who serve in the armed forces.
Mr. Poilievre is never going to publicly embrace Bay Street. His shtick is running against the rich. That doesn’t mean he can’t have relationships with CEOs, and understand how business leaders think. After breaking bread at the C.D. Howe, the leader of the official opposition is better prepared for his next job in Ottawa.