Robyn Urback, Globe and Mail »
Pierre Poilievre spent 20 years being a certain type of politician: the prosecutor, the pest, the attack dog. He’d bare his teeth when he sat in the government front benches, even when most cabinet members would tuck their tails and flip on their backs to defuse opposition attacks. That wasn’t Mr. Poilievre’s way.
That’s why he was so perfect for the political moment in late 2023 and 2024, when Canadians’ economic anxieties and frustrations about this country’s many deficiencies bubbled over. Mr. Poilievre became a vessel for that anger: someone who could give literal voice in Parliament to all the ways they believed the government had failed them. Canadians needed a pit bull, and Mr. Poilievre provided.
Then, the moment changed. All of a sudden, Justin Trudeau was no longer prime minister, Donald Trump was U.S. President again, and this country’s economic security – and indeed, our very sovereignty – was in danger. The mood across the country shifted almost instantly: The climate no longer called for a rabid dog, but a careful, confident shepherd who could lead the country through this time of turmoil.
