When Stephen Harper took power in 2006, one of his most difficult tasks was holding together a caucus of 124 MPs. Some of the members came from the old, more centrist Conservative Party, others from the old, more radically conservative Reform Party.
Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre was 26 years old. He was the youngest MP in the House. Every Wednesday in Conservative caucus, he would take to the microphone to preach the good word of fiscal conservatism.
Poilievre had allies. The day before the caucus, a group of like-minded MPs had gathered, determined to coordinate their efforts to counterbalance the influence of the centrists, those spendthrifts, those softies, those Liberals lost in Harper’s big tent. The group had debated what name it should give itself. Poilievre had suggested the “Liberty Caucus.” Others had suggested “True Blue.” But Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer and Ontario MP Cheryl Gallant are arguing over who got the name that was finally chosen: the Khmer Blues.
The name is bold, because it refers to the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian communists who have to their credit the torture and murder of more than a million and a half of their fellow citizens — 25% of the country’s population — between 1975 and 1979. You know I am charitable, so I will conclude that this choice did not attest to a desire to assassinate their political adversaries. Only to torture them. I mean: psychologically. Basically, they were expressing their penchant for ideological intransigence. That’s already loaded enough, thank you. Interesting detail: Maxime Bernier was a member.
Harper was delighted with the group’s existence. According to Andrew Lawton, who recounts the episode in his recent Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life (Sutherland), the Prime Minister told one of the Khmer Bleus that “the Red Tories and the Quebec deputies [deux groupes souvent indiscernables] were those who demanded the most attention in the meetings and therefore exerted a disproportionate influence.”
They needed to be balanced. One of the group’s members, Alberta’s Rob Anders, recalls that the meetings always produced a consensus. “Then we would show up in caucus the next morning and hammer it home for the 30 seconds each MP was allotted.” One of the Red ToriesPeter MacKay, describes the young Poilievre as a “hawk” who would pounce on any new government spending as if it were prey. Now that Pierre Poilievre is in the antechamber of power, one character trait stands out, sharpened by the passing years: intransigence. We are in the presence of a willful, consistent politician with a keen intelligence. But also a man who must have been absent, or distracted, or dissident, on the day the art of nuance was taught. The day also when it was a question of civility, empathy, ” fair play “.
Like the Cambodian Khmers, but without their taste for hemoglobin, Poilievre is a supporter of total confrontation, of scorched earth, of the (political) annihilation of the enemy. I take as proof that he has not the slightest qualm about using personal insult and lies to achieve his ends.
The insult? To claim that New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh is a “sellout” and that the only reason he keeps the Trudeau government in power is not, as he says, to provide Canadians with free dental insurance or medication, but to ensure he gets his pension, is a desire to destroy a reputation. Not a program, not an ideology, not an overly expensive proposal: a reputation.
The lie? This summer, Poilievre’s party ran an ad portraying Singh as an elitist who loves luxury watches (he has two, which he received as gifts), BMWs (true), well-cut jackets (true) and who went to school in Beverly Hills. Oops. The ad neglects to mention that it’s Beverly Hills, Michigan. The intention to mislead the listener is obvious. We also learn that Singh is a sellout, because he has decided “to join Trudeau in raising taxes, crime and housing costs.” In exchange, he can remain an MP until 2025 and “collect his $2 million pension.”
A pension of two million? That’s a lot. In fact, he won’t be able to collect it until 2035. In fact, it will only be $45,000 a year. To get to two million, we have to assume that he won’t die until he’s 90, which is likely, but not outrageous.
A lot of energy is invested by Poilievre and his team of Khmer Bleus to destroy the adversary, using exaggerations — which is common — and lies — which was not yet normalized in Canadian political discourse. Poilievre is an agent of propagation of mutual disrespect.
Last April, at the New Brunswick border, Poilievre saw from his car a group of protesters carrying a flag ” Fuck Trudeau ” He stopped to greet them and said of the Prime Minister: “Everything he says is nonsense. bullshit. Everything, without exception.” Can we imagine Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, even Stephen Harper cheerfully going to meet people carrying such a crude message, encouraging them and lacking so much respect for their political opponent? The answer is obviously no.
At a time when Americans could (I stress the conditional) turn the page on ten years of vitriol, Canadians are preparing, next year, to enter the bile zone.