There’s a new form of savagery in politics, the kind that belongs on the Discovery Channel’s after 10 pm slot where you get to see the bones and sinew in high definition after a predator runs down its kill.

Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, has been stalking Trudeau for a while. The current Prime Minister limps between press conferences, having received a few maulings during their encounters in Parliament. As Poilievre would later remark, Trudeau seems a bit panicky when trying to defend his policies.

Despite coming to the attention of Australia late in the hour following his (now infamous) apple-eating torture of an unprepared journalist, Poilievre is not a political vegetarian. His eyes point forward and there’s a definite curve to the front teeth that leaves conservatives living in hope that finally their party is on the hunt for victory.

It’s been a while.

Conservativism across the West has sunk into passivity, warming its favourite safe seats. It tossed money at universities instead of reforming them, hoping that by fostering communists and anarchists as kept women, they would stay away from the wife instead of graduating into a relentless media class that irritates ministers like flies worrying corpses on the Savannah. When out of power, conservatives laid down and became kept women themselves, satisfied by public money.

Justin Trudeau won power in Canada more than 8 years ago in 2015. Poilievre has only been around as Opposition Leader since the end of 2022. He is fresh where Trudeau is rotting.

Making a meal of Justin Trudeau isn’t the real challenge for Poilievre. Trudeau has been standing around, tied to his microphone like the goat bleating at the darkness in Jurassic Park. He survives on a steady diet of pellets tossed into his enclosure by passing vested interests and international bureaucrats. What Poilievre has to do is convince the Canadian public that they are in the mood for BBQ goat.

Poilievre has revealed his true political strength lies in clarity. He has a talent, unique to this generation of politicians, in explaining why everything has gone to hell.

Those in charge would like us to believe that the cost of living problems that befall us are complicated, indecipherable, and thus blameless and unsolvable.

Poilievre unravels their mystique in 60-second Twitter videos. This paints the government as liars who are deliberately obscuring information to protect themselves.

When explaining inflation, Poilievre said, ‘Three years ago, we had 1.8 trillion dollars. Now we have 2.4 trillion dollars. Our money is growing eight times faster than the stuff money buys. This causes inflation and screws over the working class. Stop creating cash. Start creating more of what cash buys.’

Simple, but devastating to the Trudeau economic model of printing money to bribe voters with Woke handouts. Now, every time a voter sees a Trudeau promise of cash, they’ll know they’re being screwed over to benefit the rich. Election-themed bribes become suspicious Trojan horses. The more Trudeau promises, the worse he looks.

Stop creating cash. Start creating more of what cash buys. pic.twitter.com/4BO3Cd277t

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 3, 2024

In an exchange which Australia’s Opposition Leader Peter Dutton should replicate, Poilievre floated that feared phrase ‘cutting taxes’. And the Left were straight on their feet, as they always are, shouting that cutting taxes would lead to scary cuts to services! It is their defence mechanism when someone tries to balance the government’s dodgy books.

‘That means cuts to civil servants. It means cuts to social programs. Will the Conservative Party be honest with Canadians and tell us exactly what it is he has plans on cutting?’

That last question was a catastrophic error from the regime.

Poilievre stood up and told Canadians exactly what would be cut.

‘We’re going to cut the $21 billion given to these high-priced consultants which have gone up 100 per cent – doubled under this government. We’re going to cut the $35 billion infrastructure bank that has not built any infrastructure. We are going to cut the billion-dollar green fund that has not delivered any green technology of which $150 million has already been misplaced and misappropriated. I could go on, but I’m being extremely specific because it’s so easy to list waste that we can cut.’

He then decided to take his opponent’s advice and turn this into bumper stickers for the campaign.

Oh if only we had such ruthlessness from the conservatives over here. When debating Labor’s tax cuts and back flips off the hypocrisy high board, the Liberals got themselves into a mess trying to explain fractional differences in take-home pay for different professions – even at one point arguing against lowering taxes for the working class before correcting themselves – when what they should have done is used it as an excuse to publicise every single wasteful Woke grift suckling at the Treasury.

‘Well, no, we’re not [blocking the tax cuts]. We’re working through the figures. There are big numbers here. And our argument is that there should be incentive in the system. Very clear, very clear that Liberal Party is the party of lower taxes. We always have been. We always will be because we manage the economy more.’

I don’t need to cite that quote for you to guess it came from Dutton rather than Poilievre. Dutton nailed the policy line but missed Labor’s jugular by miles.

It’s frustrating, because Anthony Albanese is one of the most ineffectual public speakers to inhabit the office of the Prime Minister. Every time he speaks we are reminded that politics is system based upon mates, not merit.

The closest thing we have to a political predator is Jacinta Price who fell on top of Albanese during the Voice to Parliament like a mythical drop bear and managed to haunt the nightmares of the ABC and Guardian alike. Price plays with the press in the same way that Poilievre torments Trudeau. She could be very dangerous indeed.

Australia’s Liberal Party website goes on and on about how it will lower taxes – but somehow also promises to spend more money and raise taxes on foreign corporations. It’s not surprising Labor walks all over this incoherency.

I watch Canadian politics because at least it can be classified as entertainment rather than a depressing spiral into mediocrity where citizens are left to vote for the least-worst option. As it stands, the next election won’t be about Australian prosperity – it’ll be a desperate bit to stave off an all-out censorial dictatorship in which Labor have birthed the Liberal Party’s Misinformation and Disinformation bill.

Just think of the beautiful bumper stickers on roads right across the country:

Axe the tax. Build the homes. Fix the budget. Stop the crime. pic.twitter.com/FTdX0M6l0m

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) February 28, 2024

One thing that both Canada and Australia can rely on are Covid-era revelations. The Queensland Supreme Court ruling was the perfect opportunity to throw shade at the Labor regime, but they won’t. They can’t. Attacking Labor on Covid policy is a non-starter for the Liberals, whose noses and paws are just as dirty.

Not so for Canadian conservatives. Poilievre has shed the mistakes of his predecessors. He is his own man and refuses to wear the errors of others, to his great benefit. In doing so, he robs the press of their favourite diet of gotchas.

Upon receiving confirmation of what has been long suspected of the government’s most sensitive virology lab in Canada, Poilievre was unapologetically ruthless.

‘…was not worth the cost, the crime, the corruption, and the cover-up. But now we know that he [Trudeau] cannot protect our people or our country.’

His outburst has become the headline in a news cycle that cannot resist Poilievre’s drama.

LIVE: Shocking documents reveal Trudeau covered up massive PRC infiltration of his government’s top virology lab https://t.co/CfZLHci67U

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) February 29, 2024

We are at the point in the story where it has started raining, the electric fences have gone off, and the Trudeau goat is standing alone in the darkness, too frightened to bleat for help.

Canada’s election is next year and Poilievre has a lot more chewing to do on Trudeau. That’s if he survives that long. Despite being political royalty, Trudeau might opt for a swift exit – do an Ardern – and retire to a life of globe trekking, eco conferences, and fancy dress parties.

An Ipsos poll in 2023 said that most Canadians think Trudeau should resign in 2024. In Alberta, Poilievre land, the figure jumps from 69 per cent to 81 per cent.

Three days ago, the whispers started of Trudeau stepping down over the viral lab scandal.

‘He is losing control of himself…’ Observed Poilievre of Trudeau, to the laughter of Parliament. ‘He had his ministers hold a press conference as their solution [to violent theft] and in it they put out a press release that said, and I quote, “In 2022 approximately 9,600 vehicles were stolen in the Toronto area alone representing a 300 per cent increase since 2015.” End quote. What happened in 2015? I know, he happened, Mr Speaker. [He points to Trudeau.] How can we make him un-happen and stop the crime?’

The lesson of Poilievre is that he knows what he wants. He wants to be Prime Minister of Canada.

What do our Liberals want? Do they want power? If they want power, they need to decide what they are going to do with it. In Queensland, they do not even list their policy platform. Give us money. Join. Join for what? They are still bickering over what they believe in. Australia could learn from Canada. Conservatives need a plan, prey, and a few political predators…

---

Flat White is written and edited by Alexandra Marshall.

Get 10 issues for just $10

Subscribe to The Spectator Australia today for the next 10 magazine issues, plus full online access, for just $10.

SUBSCRIBE 10 issues for $10 REGISTER 3 articles a month

Already a subscriber? Log in