What I Couldn't See at the Conservative Convention
They might deny my media accreditation, but there's always the internet!
The Conservatives should be congratulated on a spectacular convention. Even through a computer screen, you can feel its energy. The crowd is big and loud and happy. The speakers are passionate and on message. Even erstwhile Progressive Conservative Peter MacKay called for unity and attacked the Liberals with the ferocity of a rottweiler. If you were leader Pierre Poilievre, you could not hope for a better day,
MacKay’s speech was notable for another reason: he spoke the name “Pierre” so many times one lost count.
“Pierre believes in the rule of law… Pierre believes in the right to peaceful protest… Pierre believes strongly in national defense… Pierre believes that our natural environment is a part of our natural heritage… Like you, Pierre is fed up with the Liberals…”
This isn’t the Conservative party, so much as it’s Poilievre’s party. It has been molded around his image and story, repeated over and over: born to a single mother, adopted by two Alberta schoolteachers, got ahead by smarts and hard work. No silver spoon, no ties to the Laurentian elite. The Conservative party is now the party of fellow “common people”: the plumber, the waitress, the trucker, whose “common sense” is needed to mend a broken Canada.
And Canadians are eating it up.
The Tories are at 40% in the polls, Poilievre’s positives outweigh his negatives, and he is Canadians’ preferred choice for Prime Minister. If an election were held today, he would win, possibly by a landslide. Clearly, the Tories know what they are doing. And ironically, they’ve lifted the playbook from the very party they want to defeat.
The Conservative Party today is a leader cult, just like the Liberal Party was in 2015 under Justin Trudeau. From third place, the Grits roared back to power on Trudeau’s dime. He was the golden boy who could do no wrong. He spoke of hope and sunny ways. He was accompanied everywhere by his beautiful wife and young family, who occasionally interrupted his speeches. And he tapped into the prevailing zeitgeist: an almost pathological hatred for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had worn out his welcome after nine years and three governments.
Er, sound familiar?
Somewhere, senior Liberals are biting their nails, if they have any left.
Karma is the thunder
Rattling your ground
Karma's on your scent like a bounty hunter
Karma's gonna track you down
Step by step from town to town…
Even Poilievre’s support for the Freedom Convoy, an issue the Liberals hoped to use against the Conservatives in the next election, has been finessed to make it relatable to the average voter. Support for the Convoy has been recast as compassion for the downtrodden – and with so many Canadians feeling downtrodden these days due to hard economic times, it’s not a bad bet. The fact that Ottawa became a lawless street party for three weeks and the economy lost billions due to blocked border crossings may resonate less than young people giving up on owning a home, middle-class people visiting food banks, and the impression that Trudeau doesn’t care about them, but Poilievre does.
Every time a speaker referenced the Convoy at the convention – directly, through the word trucker, or obliquely, through the accusation that Trudeau didn’t listen to people in pain – the line got a standing ovation. Even MacKay, former Attorney General, Justice Minister, defender of law and order, joined the Borg in his noontime address: “Pierre will work with Canadians, not insult them,” Mackay intoned. “He will show up, and show compassion, and listen to those who are struggling.” This is the party of the Convoy Conservatives, and they figure Canada can be the country of the Convoy too.
So far so good. But there is a fly in the ointment. Something that could derail the Tory Freedom Train and send Poilievre’s electoral prospects into a tailspin. And that something is…
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