Something is happening in Canada.
Something is happening with Canadian voters.
Something is happening that goes beyond the fatigue of the Trudeau government.
The new conservatives
This something could be summed up by a new conservative coalition, which goes beyond the stereotypical image that we can have of conservatives, from the Alberta cowboy to the Ottawa trucker to the religious conservative.
At 41% according to the latest Léger poll, Pierre Poilievre’s conservatives are uniting new voters, outside their usual circle.
First of all, a new fact: we see that young people, those under 40, often men, often in the suburbs, mainly support the conservatives. Yes, you read correctly: the Youth Party is now the Conservative Party!
Angry – or desperate – to find that their purchasing power is diminishing, that they are paying a mortgage that is too high compared to their salary or that they are unable to afford property, they see in Poilievre a figure of change. These young people believe, just like him, that Canada is broken. They are nostalgic for a time they never knew, for a Canada that worked.
Another change: unionized workers – blue-collar workers – are turning away from the NDP and Jagmeet Singh. The Singh record – dental insurance, drug insurance and anti-scab legislation – means nothing to them.
Poilievre knows it: he calls himself in the workers’ camp, despite his anti-unionism. He voted for the anti-scab law, which is unprecedented for the Conservatives. This is where his populist narrative – the elites against the people – works.
And finally, another electoral movement: cultural communities, often ideologically more conservative while being traditionally liberal, increasingly support Poilievre.
Anglo-Saxon conservatism
This is not a coincidence.
Across the West, conservatism unites the same type of voters that Poilievre attracts.
This was the case in the United Kingdom with Boris Johnson and in the United States with Trump.
It is also the success of Pierre Poilievre who, despite his style and his exaggerations, succeeded in creating a conservative coalition unprecedented in Canadian politics.