Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a rally in Montreal, on June 19.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
TLN aired an interview with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his wife, Anaida, on the weekend. If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tuned in, it must have ruined his vacation. Should the Conservatives win the next election, little of what Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal government enacted will survive.
Mr. Poilievre rarely grants interviews with the major networks or news publications. But he is open to speaking with other media, including ones aimed at various ethnic communities. The half-hour program on TLN, hosted by Camila Gonzalez, aired Saturday and Sunday evening, and will also be available on YouTube.
The conversation ranged from immigration policy to how the couple get their two children ready for school (According to Ms. Poilievre, they employ a “divide and conquer” approach whenever Mr. Poilievre is home.) Ms. Poilievre spoke in advance of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela. She and her family emigrated from there when she was a child
But the heart of the interview was Mr. Poilievre outlining once again his plan to dismantle most of what the Liberal government built over the past nine years.
This goes far beyond scrapping the tax on carbon. It also means lifting caps on oil and gas emissions and loosening environmental regulations. “I want to sell our natural gas to wean Asia off of dirty coal,” Mr. Poilievre told Ms. Gonzalez. If Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault enacted it, the Conservatives are likely to reverse it.
As most people know, Mr. Poilievre intends to defund the English-language television arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He told viewers that he would scrap Bill C-11, which gave the CRTC the power to regulate the internet, Bill C-63, which requires online platforms to watch for and remove harmful content, and Bill C-18, which requires large tech companies to compensate news organizations when sharing their content.
Mr. Poilievre said he wanted to live in a country where people pay lower taxes and are burdened by fewer rules, but also where they “have freedom of speech, where they’re judged on their merits, not their ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc., where parents have ultimate authority over what their kids learn about sexuality and gender, where we go after criminals not after hunters and sport shooters, where we rebuild our military to have strong standing in the world.”
The Liberal agenda of promoting diversity within the public service – gone. Protections for gender-diverse youth – gone. Efforts to combat discrimination in the criminal justice system – gone.
Pretty much every major element of the Liberal environmental, social and justice agenda – gone.
The mention of guns and of a strong national defence are both particularly interesting. During election campaigns, Liberals love to bring up the issue of gun control, accusing Conservatives of wanting to put powerful weapons in the hands of criminals.
Mr. Poilievre has no intention of playing that game. He will make protecting gun rights a priority, while toughening bail, parole and sentencing provisions.
The Conservative Leader hasn’t publicly committed to meeting NATO’s minimum target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence. Mr. Trudeau has made the commitment but no one believes him. Mr. Poilievre is at least signalling that he intends to take the issue of defence spending seriously.
There is a lot that Mr. Poilievre says that is hard to square with reality. His promise to penalize municipalities that refuse to loosen zoning restrictions will not produce an immediate housing boom. If you can’t afford to make a down payment on a home today, you likely won’t be able to after four years of Conservative government.
Referring to Mr. Trudeau’s “radical socialist agenda” is bosh. And calling his political opponents “wacko” is offensive.
But there is a reason the Conservatives are so far ahead in the polls. Things don’t feel right. Even the most fervent supporter of open immigration (and I am one) is alarmed by the out-of-control flood of people coming into the country. Inflation and high interest rates have lowered the standard of living for millions of people. The regulatory environment has become far too complex. And the Liberals have failed to persuade most of us that they get all this and are working to fix it.
Mr. Poilievre says he knows how to fix it. And a lot of people, including a lot of new Canadians, are listening.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the federal government, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has capped oil and gas production. The government has capped oil and gas emissions. This version has been updated.