Brian Mulroney reportedly advised Pierre Poilievre to “fish where the fish are”.
Mulroney wanted the Conservative leader to use the same fishing manual he did: cast his line to catch moderate fish, those of the centre-right, those “tanned” by the Liberal government.
Among the Conservatives, a skew suggested that this was their new strategy.
There would be a new poilievre in the city after a leadership race in which Jean Charest was the victim of a veritable chainsaw massacre.
This is not what we are experiencing.
This week, when he tackled the CBC with two legs is the latest proof of that.
It does not try to “centralize” itself politically.
Rather, it seeks to be at the center of all protest movements, legitimate or not, extremist or not, insurgent or not, convergent or not. This is the political manual he uses.
It’s completely different software from the classic Canadian right and Stephen Harper’s; who knew that in order to move closer to mainstream politics and win elections, he had to hold back their beliefs.
In this sense he breaks with the Canadian conservative tradition.
It’s not the stakes, but the anger they generate that counts for the conservative leader.
In other words, he fishes out all the anger.
Assuming it’s annoying
Let’s take a look back at his crusade against the CBC to become a “state-funded media company” on Twitter.
We can certainly criticize the CBC and their prejudices that almost everyone in Quebec has recognized…
But is that really what Poilievre denounces?
Above all, he sees anger in it that needs to be exploited: he wants to unite Canadians who distrust media like CBC. Not to mention the impact on democracy.
It’s the same dynamic with his support for truckers during the Freedom Convoy. “I’m proud of the truckers and I stand with them,” he said.
Many have analyzed it as a political dumpling.
Rather, this support was the starting point of his approach. This heralded the sequel.
Many mocked him even more for his love for Bitcoin. “A way to deflect inflation” against the Bank of Canada, which “creates” inflation, he said.
It’s exactly the same strategy at work.
There are a lot of Canadians who believe strongly in alternative finance, bitcoin and whatnot, and Poilievre wants to be their hero, their flag bearer.
Also look at his reaction to the withdrawal of the 3rd link.
Quoting his tweet: “Our conservative team has fought for the common sense path from the start: a third link and the motorists of Quebec. Trudeau and his Liberals have chosen the path of awakening and the war on the car. »
I don’t really know what Woke, 3rd Link, Trudeau and common sense are doing here.
Doesn’t matter. There’s a resentment in Quebec, he knows some people eat woke morning, noon, night, he has to be the custodian.
Survey
The Tories, led by Poilievre, are currently at 34%, according to polls.
34%, what is that? That’s exactly what Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole achieved in the last election. The poilievre effect is still nil.
He still has a lot of anger to cultivate if he wants to become prime minister.
