Poilievre Walks a Tightrope over Alberta’s Pension Uproar

In an obvious effort to inoculate himself against being identified as an enemy of the Canada Pension Plan, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre Friday inserted himself into the open-letter uproar over the Alberta government’s plan to force the province’s citizens out of the CPP with a statement of his own.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a forceful open letter to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith vowing to defend the CPP and Canadians’ pensions. Smith responded with an open letter of her own, accusing the PM of fear-mongering and warning of unspecified “serious legal and political consequences.”

Danielle Smith's pension trifecta: Trudeau, Notley and Poilievre agree on something

It's not clear if Pierre Poilievre had already devised a position on Alberta's proposed quitting of the Canada Pension Plan, but the Conservative leader issued one barely a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proclaimed his own stance.

The Liberals' unusually forceful opposition to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's pension ambition has doubled as a political wedge against Poilievre. Alongside trying to criticize the CPP-weakening gambit itself, Liberals applied pressure on Conservatives to squeeze their leader through one of three doors:

Please Advise! Did Trudeau Ruin Our Turkey Dinner?

Dear Dr. Steve,

I paid $700 for a Thanksgiving turkey and as a result am now living in my car with a toothbrush, a can opener and a family of squirrels. Isn’t this Trudeau’s fault?

Signed,

Pierre

Canada’s Conservatives recruit Brexiteer and ‘canceled’ former general to fire up grassroots

OTTAWA, Ont. — As Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre strides into his party’s convention with a surge ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the polls, a prominent U.K. Brexiteer says conservatives around the world should take note.

Lord Daniel Hannan tells POLITICO that Poilievre is one of the most interesting center-right leaders “on the international stage right now” for having “already transformed the demographics of his party, reaching out to young people.”

Hannan will share his praise of Poilievre with Canadians as the closing keynote speaker at this week’s Conservative Party convention, a three-day confab in Quebec City that will invigorate a party dead-set on ousting Canada’s eight-year old Liberal government in the next election.

How to Defeat Poilievre’s Politics of Abandonment

In Pierre Poilievre, Canada has a radical free market zealot whose policies will be disastrous for the poor, working and middle classes. 

Indeed, if the Conservatives are victorious in the next election, Poilievre will be the most right-wing prime minister in our modern history. Think the gutting of social welfare from the Paul Martin budgets of the early 1990s meets a supercharged dismantling of the fiscal capacity of government à la Stephen Harper.

Poilievre, to the credit of his communications team, has managed to dress up his right-wing program with populist rhetoric that resonates during a time of rising economic insecurity. But scratch the surface and the neoliberal playbook of slashing social spending, tax cuts for business and the wealthy, and abandoning people to market inequities is plain to see.

Canada’s Conservatives recruit Brexiteer and ‘canceled’ former general to fire up grassroots

OTTAWA, Ont. — As Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre strides into his party’s convention with a surge ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the polls, a prominent U.K. Brexiteer says conservatives around the world should take note.

Lord Daniel Hannan tells POLITICO that Poilievre is one of the most interesting center-right leaders “on the international stage right now” for having “already transformed the demographics of his party, reaching out to young people.”

Hannan will share his praise of Poilievre with Canadians as the closing keynote speaker at this week’s Conservative Party convention, a three-day confab in Quebec City that will invigorate a party dead-set on ousting Canada’s eight-year old Liberal government in the next election.

Don’t Believe the Spin. Trudeau Isn’t Done

The not-so-shiny pony is headed for the political glue factory, or so goes the buzz from Justin Trudeau’s detractors. And there are a lot of them.

The way most pollsters and pundits and all Harper-Cons see it, you can put a fork in Trudeau; he’s done. But they can put away the cutlery for now. The chances are better than even that the current PM will defeat his fourth Conservative leader in a row — assuming he sticks around for the next electoral tilt.

Yes, the polling looks bad. But there are few things less relevant than a mid-summer poll with no election in sight.

Poilievre's Conservative Party embracing language of mainstream conspiracy theorie

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been hitting the summer barbecue circuit with ramped-up rhetoric around debunked claims that the World Economic Forum is attempting to impose its agenda on sovereign governments.

It is, some experts suggest, another sign that some conspiracy theories are moving from the fringes of the internet to mainstream thinking, as people's distrust of government grows.

Pierre Poilievre Launches Petition To Condemn Trudeau Over Khadr Payout

OTTAWA — Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre has launched an electronic petition calling on the "government of Canada to condemn Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau's $10.5 million payment to Omar Khadr."

The Ottawa MP's petition, E-1194, states that the Canadian government "did not force Omar Khadr to fight for the Taliban and murder a U.S. medic," that "the Canadian government had no role in his subsequent incarceration," and that "the people of Canada owe Omar Khadr no compensation."

Poilievre won’t rule out ban on face coverings in public service

Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre said Thursday he would not rule out imposing restrictions on face coverings in the federal public service.

Speaking at a press conference on an open letter Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has written to the federal public service about the future of their pension plans and sick leave benefits, Poilievre would only say that any decision on a possible ban on bureaucrats wearing the niqab or other face coverings on the job would be “down the road.”

Poilievre Wears Conservative Party Shirt While Promoting Universal Child Care Benefit

A key Conservative minister is again being accused of blurring the line between government and partisan business, this time because of a small but unmistakable logo on his blue shirt.

Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre attended an event in Halifax Monday organized by his department to promote the government's enhanced Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB). Starting Monday, some $3 billion in payments are being delivered to parents across Canada.

Poilievre Not Sorry For Taxpayers' Dollars Spent On 'Vanity Videos'

OTTAWA - Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre won't apologize for using taxpayer dollars to produce YouTube videos of himself promoting the universal child care benefit.

Poilievre insisted Friday that he's simply using innovative ways to inform Canadians about the newly enriched and expanded child benefit.

But opposition MPs denounced the "vanity videos" as a new low for a government that has a penchant for producing partisan advertising on the public dime.

Pierre Poilievre Won't Help Cancer Victim In Fight For CPP Disability

OTTAWA - Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre will not intervene to ensure a terminally ill Alberta man denied Canada Pension Plan disability benefits finally gets his payments.

Peter McClure, 62, is suffering from lung and rectal cancer and has outlived his doctor's prognosis.

McClure says he was told by Service Canada 18 months ago that his condition wasn't severe or prolonged enough to qualify for CPP disability, and was advised to apply for CPP retirement benefits instead, which pay significantly less.

High-profile Conservatives consider run in Nepean, but Harder accuses Poilievre of meddling

With John Baird’s stunning exit from politics earlier this month, a number of high-profile Conservatives are considering running for the party’s nomination, but some are complaining publicly that the new federal regional minister responsible for Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre, is discouraging them because he has a preferred candidate.

Mr. Baird, who was the minister of Foreign Affairs and the regional minister for Ottawa, announced on Feb. 2 that after spending 20 years in provincial and federal politics, he was stepping down from Cabinet and resigning his seat to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Baird has represented Ottawa West-Nepean since 2006, but chose to run in the new riding of Nepean in the next election, a more Conservative riding, where he was the nominated candidate for the 2015 election.

Poilievre's Promotion Worries Labour

Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative's new employment minister, is an intense partisan who cares more about his party than he does about working Canadians, says the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

Gil McGowan said Poilievre, 35, is a bad choice for the employment file, which has a mandate to create jobs.

"The only time he's ever paid attention to working people at all is when he's been viciously attacking unions in an effort to undercut any political threat that they might pose to his Conservative Party," McGowan said. "Putting this guy in charge of the employment department is like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department."

Poilievre obstructed efforts to improve EI system: Jennings

Canada would have a fairer and more equitable employment insurance system today if it weren’t for the Conservative government’s new employment minister Pierre Poilievre, says former Liberal MP Marlene Jennings.

Jennings, who served in 2009 on a blue ribbon panel set up to look at Canada’s employment insurance system, says Poilievre deliberately obstructed the panel’s attempts to improve Canada’s employment insurance system from the very start – seemingly carrying out instructions from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

New Tory employment minister brings American-style right-wing agenda to the job

The Harper administration has just appointed Pierre Poilievre, the former Conservative minister for democratic reform, to minister of employment and social development.

Maclean's magazine once described the controversial and fiercely partisan 35-year-old MP as "the baby face of Canadian conservatism." For the past few years, he has pushed right-wing policies similar to those advocated by the American Koch brothers and the Tea Party movement they fund.

Minister Poilievre expressed his desire to implement anti-union "right to work" legislation in 2012, at the same time that U.S. states such as Wisconsin and Michigan passed legislation that undermined unions.

Cabinet shuffle: Nicholson to Foreign Affairs (bizarre!), Poilievre to Employment (insulting!)

Rob Nicholson, Stephen Harper's new Foreign Affairs Minister, is not only fluently unilingual, he has never shown much in the way of charm, affability, wit or any other of the skills one normally associates with diplomacy. 

His personality in the House of Commons could be summed up in two words: dry and sour.

But, as we said in this space after John Baird took his leave, the Prime Minister's taste almost never fails to baffle. 

Pierre Poilievre Is One Of The Most Polarizing Figures In Federal Politics

OTTAWA - "Politics should not be a lifelong career," a 20-year-old Pierre Poilievre once wrote, "and elected officials should not be allowed to fix themselves in the halls of power of a nation."

But fix himself in the halls of Parliament he did, and politics is the only real career Poilievre has known.

Conservatives unhappy with Poilievre’s ‘bombastic’ style on elections overhaul bill

Conservative Party insiders say there’s dissatisfaction within the Conservative caucus over Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre’s handling of the elections reform Bill C-23 and recently-recommended changes by a Senate committee are an opportunity for the minister to change tack and adopt a more conciliatory approach.

Opposition MPs aren’t buying the unanimously-supported Senate recommendations released last week, though, and they’re continuing to call for the bill to be withdrawn.