In January the Conservative Party of Canada is holding a review of Pierre Poilievre’s leadership. They also need to have a serious review of their policies which clearly have been taken from US President Donald Trump’s play book.

Appealing to the worst parts of human nature, using intolerance and fear as organizing tools, as we have seen in the US is dangerous. Intolerance and fear is the recipe for hate. Unfortunately, these organizing tools are effective and resulted in the Conservatives increasing their vote last election. Intolerance and fear must be rejected. 

In 2024, the Conservatives could not resist playing identity politics.

We saw the sudden embrace of anti-trans policies by Poilievre and conservative premiers across the country. Amnesty International denounced conservative messaging as “dangerous.”

The outright hatred being promoted against the transgendered by Alberta premier Danielle Smith who used the notwithstanding clause to strip them of their rights is as dangerous as it is outrageous. 

The Conservative Party is also echoing Trump’s “common sense policies” of tax cuts, cutting red tape (deregulation) and privatization claiming “common sense” will fix the housing and affordability crisis. Trickledown theory has been repeatedly discredited since the time of Thatcher and Reagan. Making the wealthy wealthier has never led to prosperity and never will.  

Poilievre claims he will solve the housing crisis. Poilievre himself is one of the main causes of the affordability and housing crisis. The number one cause of the housing crisis is the corporatization of housing for profit in the creation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT)s. Poilievre was Housing Minister under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, which allowed 800,000 affordable rental units to be sold off to corporate landlords and developers. 

Under the Harper Conservatives, the average home price in Canada went up 70 per cent and he did nothing about it. Some of Poilievre’s top donors are real estate investors, the same people cranking up rents and fighting rent control across the country. Poilievre’s housing plan is cut taxes and “red tape” regulations claiming more affordable housing will be built.                                                                                               

Even though he lost his own seat, it seems Poilievre has learned nothing from the last election and continues to double down on those election policies. 

In the last election, chillingly, Poilievre promised to deport permanent residents accused of hate crimes with no due process. He promised to pull back funding from universities over their ideological slant and then promised take action against, Diversity Equity and Inclusiveness (DEI) in the justice system and the armed forces.

Authoritarians like Trump don’t like fact-checking from the media because it is a threat to them, so they call the media “fake news.” Poilievre also attacks the media and is promising to remove all public funding of the CBC. Doing nothing on the climate crisis and supporting more oil production amounts to climate change denial, further endangering us all.

Echoing the US, Poilievre is still promising to cut foreign aid and the bureaucracy. with his “Canada first” and “common sense” slogans.

The Conservative Party’s solution to every problem seems to be a tax cut. 

“Common sense” is wreaking havoc in the US as it did under premier Mike Harris in Ontario in the 1990’s. “Common sense” is a reverse Robin Hood policy, taking from the people and giving to the rich. 

Poilievre’s policies are only going to further dismantle democracy and enable the upward transfer of wealth to the wealthy. 

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones heaped praise on Poilievre as the “real deal.” Who has Poilievre been communicating with? With lame excuses, Poilievre is still refusing to get his security clearance. What is Poilievre hiding?  How can anyone be trusted with the safety and security of Canadians when they are refusing to get security clearance? 

While reviewing Poilievre’s leadership, the Conservative Party of Canada also needs to review its Trump echoing policies, and get off this dangerous pathway. As we see daily, these policies don’t lead anywhere good.

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Nick Seebruch, editor