The Man Who Could Replace Trudeau

MP Pierre Poilievre (left) and MP Andrew Scheer. Photo courtesy of Andrew Scheer via Flickr. February 28, 2018.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has resigned, and for the moment, he will be replaced internally by a member of his party as Prime Minister. But elections are coming soon, and all eyes are on Pierre Poilievre of Canada’s Conservative Party as the man who will ascend to the top of the country’s government. The Wall Street Journal’s Vipal Monga and Paul Vieira report on Poilievre’s rise, writing:

In early 2022, much of Canada’s political establishment lined up to blast the Freedom Convoys—lines of truckers who blocked access to this country’s capital to protest Covid-19 vaccine mandates. But not Pierre Poilievre.

The opposition Conservative Party lawmaker embraced the truckers like no other mainstream Canadian politician. He used their objections to lockdowns, vaccines and mask mandates to create the narrative that an elitist and condescending prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had lost touch—a charge that stuck to the prime minister until he said Monday he would resign.

Poilievre, 45, rode a growing tide of public discontent with Trudeau to win the Conservative Party leadership later in 2022 and is poised to become Canada’s next prime minister in an eventual election. Under Poilievre, the Conservative Party leads Trudeau’s Liberal Party by 29 percentage points in a recent poll.

Under Canadian law, an election must be held no later than October.

With Trudeau stepping aside, Poilievre will have to prove that he is more than just an anti-Trudeau candidate and that his pugilistic brand of politics—relatively alien to Canada until now—can win over voters in a matchup with a different leader.

Nicknamed “Skippy,” a moniker he says he detests, Poilievre is known in Parliament for having sharp elbows, a pointed speaking style and a lack of respect for Ottawa’s political norms. He boasts an intense workout regimen that involves flipping a 500-pound tractor tire in a field and sprinting uphill while dragging a sled that carries a 75-pound weight.

In contrast to the sunny Trudeau, Poilievre can display a bristly personality. In a 2023 interview he challenged a newspaper reporter’s questions while munching on an apple, an exchange that went viral with supporters but that some political commenters say might backfire with moderate voters.

According to the Angus Reid polling firm, 55% of Canadians held an unfavorable view of Poilievre, compared with 34% who viewed him favorably. That was still better than Trudeau, whose unfavorable numbers hit 74% at the end of December, compared with 22% who held a favorable view of the departing prime minister.

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