Pierre Poilievre is steering the Conservative Party to the right

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For the first time since the merger in 2003, Canada’s Conservative Party has had two consecutive leaders fail to become Prime Minister. The Conservative Party is now at a critical point to be reunited. As former Conservative leadership candidate Rick Peterson said, “What happens when you lose four games in a row in a series? You’re out.” 

Their best chance to do this is with Pierre Poilivere, the adopted son of two Saskatchewan high school teachers and hero of Canada’s far-right. 

Poilievre won on the first ballot with 68.15 per cent of the vote. In contrast, previous leader Erin O’Toole won only 57 per cent on the third ballot of the 2020 election, and Andrew Scheer had 50.95 per cent on the final ballot in the 2017 election. Poilievre won more than both candidates on his first vote count. 

Poilievre appealed to the growing group of far-right voters in Canada. He marched in the “Freedom” Convoy protest and promised to abolish the carbon tax, defund the CBC, and fire the Bank of Canada governor.  

O’Toole did not take a clear stance on the convoy, but he lost his appeal to protestors when he said he would “probably encourage vaccination more than any Canadian,” with the exception of a “few doctors on TV.” While O’Toole was attempting to inoffensively condemn the protests, Poilievre was at the front and racking up support. 

Scheer was not appealing to the far-right either, rather he had the social Conservative and Liberal swing voter support. Scheer’s campaign also offered voters similar policies to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives’ forgotten promises, but it did not win him the election. 

Poilievre’s willingness to be controversial and polarize voters is what gives him the far-right vote. His campaign also recruited more members than the Conservative Party had in total in the leadership race and more than doubled its membership size. 

A campaign document The Globe and Mail obtained showed Poilievre was not only popular in the Conservative Prairie provinces, but also in the battleground provinces of Quebec and Ontario. 

If Poilievre wins the next federal election, the Conservative Party will continue courting and incorporating far-right ideas into their policies. If he loses, we may see more fracturing in the Conservative Party — like when Maxime Bernier broke off to the far-right People’s Party — or a split entirely. Either way, Canada’s far-right is becoming active and gaining power and may start to influence or delay policies in the years to come.