Canadians could be forgiven for thinking they were seeing an old news clip from 2015 on their electronic device of choice last week. Certainly Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre appeared to be caught in his own personal Groundhog Day, ranting about events that happened years ago, when a different prime minister was in power. Either he simply cannot help himself, or he feels he has to tilt at old windmills because he is no match for the current Liberal prime minister, Mark Carney. Take your pick.
The venue for Poilievre’s bizarre accusations was a YouTube interview with two individuals who run a popular right-wing channel, Northern Perspective, which claims to have some 207,000 viewers. Poilievre, who is known for avoiding mainstream media as much as possible, probably thought he was communicating with his bedrock base and only them, never expecting his attack would go viral. Certainly his comments were made with almost unnerving casualness. But his words are now out there for everyone to see, and they are truly shocking.
The venue alone is significant, since social media are notorious for their ability to attract all manner of extremists with little concern for scientific evidence. Interestingly, the stated mandate of Northern Perspective is to: Hold political leaders accountable, particularly when legislation harms everyday Canadians. To educate Canadians on how their government actually works—so they can make informed decisions and engage meaningfully in civic life. While many of our views lean conservative, our goal is to promote truth, transparency, and responsible leadership—regardless of political affiliation. [i] Judging from the Poilievre interview, they have failed to live up to that mandate on almost all counts.
Equally significant is the fact that no questions were posed by the interviewers about either Trudeau or the RCMP during their lengthy session with the opposition leader. It appears that Pierre Poilievre suddenly decided on his own to launch into an attack on the “scandalous” record of the Trudeau government, determined to remind listeners of everything from the Trudeau family’s Christmas stay at the home of the Aga Khan to the events surrounding the SNC-Lavalin affair. Even worse, Poilievre went on to claim that Trudeau had committed several “criminal offences” that “should have involved jail time.” [ii]
This is simply wrong. Both cases involved conflict of interest claims. In both cases the rulings by the Ethics Commissioner that there had been a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act were highly controversial, and at no time was there a claim of criminal activity. In the SNC Lavalin case, the ruling was criticized by many prominent Canadian and international experts as unfounded, and the event itself was likened to a tempest in a teapot. [iii] The Commissioner himself referred to the situation as a breach of a “convention”, not a law. And as one prominent observer pointedly noted, “even if they were breaches of the ethics act, that does not mean they were crimes.”[iv] Topping it all off is the statement made by the principal character involved in the SNC Lavalin event, former Justice Minister Jodie Wilson-Raybould, herself a lawyer. When asked point blank by a Conservative member of the Commons committee “investigating” the issue whether a criminal offence had been committed, Raybould clearly said No.[v]
As if this attack on the former prime minister were not offensive enough, Poilievre continued his comments by denigrating the credibility and honesty of the RCMP, referring to senior management as “despicable” and stating that the force had not done its job and that there had been a cover up.
These stunning accusations were met with frank disbelief by political commentators, as well as some members of his own Conservative caucus and former Conservative strategists. As one observer concluded, “it’s one thing to disagree with (a) conclusion. It’s a Big thing to accuse the national police of deliberately covering up crimes at the highest level. Or it should be. Not for Mr. Poilievre.” [vi]
Those views were echoed publicly by Dmitri Soudas, (a former top aide to Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper), who provided a blistering critique of Poilievre’s comments in an OpEd in the Toronto Star. “In a rule-of-law democracy,” Soudas wrote, “no opposition leader should ever call for a prime minister or any political rival to be jailed.” Poilievre’s behaviour, Soudas maintained, demonstrated “recklessness” and “a leadership approach that remains grounded in grievance rather than governance.” [vii]
What Poilievre has done here is not only to cast unfounded aspersions on a former prime minister, but on the credibility and neutrality of the national police force. Where have we seen this before? Could it be in the actions of the out-of-control would-be dictator to the south, who has reveled in declaring that he “hates” his enemies, and has sicked both the FBI and Justice Department on them, also claiming those same departments were previously “weaponized” against him?
This would be the same Donald Trump who is increasingly inclined to dismiss the rulings of the “independent” judiciary that go against him. How many times have we heard Pierre Poilievre disparage the actions of crown prosecutors, judicial rulings or even segments of the Criminal Code itself, when they do not please him? This includes most recently his criticism of the charges laid against two prominent members of the so-called Trucker’s Convoy that he supported, or his declaration during the last federal election that, if elected, he would happily be the first prime minister to invoke the notwithstanding clause to overcome such niggling problems?
Even some of the backbenchers in his caucus are beginning to doubt whether this is really the man to lead them into the next federal election. Let us hope more of them come to the same conclusion before the party’s compulsory leadership review in January.
[i] https://www.youtube.com/@northernperspective00
[ii] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/poilievre-says-rcmp-covered-up-trudeau-era-scandals/
[iii] See for example https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-canadas-snc-melodrama-baffles-a-world-facing-real-crisis and https://www.grllp.com/news/Financial-Post-Terence-Corcoran-Trudeau-will-win-a-fight-over-SNC-Lavalin and https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-why-didnt-snc-lavalin-get-a-deferred-prosecution-deal
[iv] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opinion/article-pierre-poilievre-casual-accusation-rcmp-cover-up-stunning/
[v] https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/just/meeting-135/evidence “In my opinion, it’s not illegal. It is very inappropriate, depending on the context of the comments made, the nature of the pressure, the specific issues that are raised.”.
[vi] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opinion/article-pierre-poilievre-casual-accusation-rcmp-cover-up-stunning/
[vii] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/top-aide-to-former-pm-harper-rips-poilievres-comments-about-rcmp-and-trudeau/
