Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre arrives to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 19.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Canada has never had a federal Conservative or Liberal leader who fit the term “career politician” more precisely than Pierre Poilievre. He was consumed by politics as a kid and has done nothing except politics ever since. A well-rounded man, he is not.
In his book, Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life, right-side journalist Andrew Lawton traces the Leader’s first political meetings to his early teens, when his mother took him to pro-life events in Calgary. Even before he graduated from high school he was working in the office of Reform Party MP Art Hanger, hauling in $600 a month.
Jason Kenney was among those mesmerized by young Pierre’s precocious political skills. As a nerdy young lad, he studied the dictionary of all things, and learned to deploy words against opponents like a rapier. That talent has helped him become the most potent Opposition Leader since John George Diefenbaker.
Just as Mr. Poilievre came early to politics, he came quickly to a firm set of beliefs. He was, writes Mr. Lawton, “ideological to his core.” The anti-establishment brand of conservatism attracted him and he’s ridden that wave. The party Mr. Poilievre now leads might well be called the Populist Conservatives.
It’s doubtful that in this, the first in-depth portrait of the heavy favourite to become Canada’s next prime minister, Mr. Poilievre will be overjoyed by being portrayed as so ideological. It was anticipated that Mr. Lawton would write a highly laudatory biography, but a puff piece it is not. It’s a competent, not very opinionated account, which – while frequently giving Mr. Poilievre the benefit of the doubt – doesn’t shortchange his critics.
Unfortunately, the biography has many gaps. Incredibly, for example, there is not even one mention – and this will no doubt please Mr. Poilievre – of the populist conservative leader next door, Donald Trump.
What does come across well is the impressive set of political skills that Mr. Poilievre brings to the table: the smarts, the imagination, the grassroots appeal, the command of the language, and the campaigning skills which saw him utterly rout the estimable Jean Charest in the leadership race.
Though he’s viewed as callous, Mr. Lawton writes that there’s a sensitive side to him. He and his wife, Anaida – who has terrific political skills herself – have an autistic child. It is the likely reason cited by Mr. Lawton for his backing away at the last minute from challenging for the Conservative leadership in 2020. He decided that too much care was needed at home.
Lifelong politicians are knocked because they have an even greater tendency than others to prioritize what’s good for scoring political points over what’s good for the country. The era of brutal partisanship we’re in now will only escalate should Mr. Poilievre come to power.
The portrait by Mr. Lawton, a former Ontario Progressive Conservative candidate who admitted to struggling periodically with mental illness, will not do much to ease the concerns of those who fear the Poilievre populism will translate to the kind of authoritarian-style government that such politicking has brought on in varying degrees in other countries.
The Conservative Leader checks off a lot of boxes for populist demagogues. He attacks the mainstream media, he traffics in conspiracy theories, demeans democratic institutions, appeals to the lowest common denominator, and relentlessly attacks elites. Throw in a hefty dose of apparent narcissism, and it’s quite a list.
Mr. Lawton reports that it was John Baird, a party star in Stephen Harper’s government, who gave Mr. Poilievre the nickname Skippy – which Mr. Poilievre hated, because it made him sound superficial. Though superficial he is not, had the Trudeau Liberals been smart they would have tried to make the moniker stick.
In the vanity sweepstakes, Mr. Poilievre would get a lot of competition from Mr. Trudeau. In his engaging and even-handed book on the Prime Minister, The Prince, journalist Stephen Maher argues that narcissism is likely the reason Mr. Trudeau wants to try to cling to power. He appears to believe that only he can ward off the threat that Skippy poses. To believe that – especially when there are many other Liberals who share his values and who aren’t nearly as loathed – requires a hefty degree of hubris.
Mr. Trudeau is right to cite the major threat to progressivism that Mr. Poilievre represents. Mr. Lawton’s book makes note of how Mr. Harper disappointed many right-wing followers with his caution. He governed via incrementalism.
A Poilievre government, Mr. Lawton argues, won’t be as restrained. His hardline ways have been bred in the bone since his teens. He’s a lifelong-conviction politician, not a wavering one: “He’ll be aggressive.”