Liberals take cue from US Democrats to attack Poilievre

Photo: Sean Kilpatrick The Canadian Press Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre upon his arrival at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 19

The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published at 7:50 p.m.

• Canada

In an attempt to import what some might call American-style politics, the Liberals are calling federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre “weird” with a new line of attack borrowed from American Democrats.

The insult, which U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats have used to some effect against former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance in recent days, has sparked a myriad of reactions and reflections south of the border.

Its effect in Canadian political circles is less clear, though it has at least provoked a reaction from conservatives. In a word: You think our guy is weird? Well, yours is weirder.

The Canadian bizarrathon began late last week, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X that Pierre Poilievre needed to “go get some air” or get a reality check, after the Conservative leader accused him of admiring communist dictatorships. Poilievre’s comments were a reference to comments Trudeau made in 2013, before he became prime minister, when he said he admired China’s “dictatorship” because it allowed the Chinese to “turn their economy around in the blink of an eye.”

Several Liberal MPs, including a cabinet minister, quickly went further. In response to a social media attack on Mr Poilievre, Housing Minister Sean Fraser accused him of “using incel hashtags to find friends online, attracting the attention of the far right and posting bizarre videos about wood.”

In 2022, Global News reported that a hidden misogynistic hashtag had been included in the Conservative leader’s YouTube videos to help promote them. Poilievre’s office said it was unaware of the tags. The “wood video” dig was a reference to an ad from the same year in which the Conservative used reclaimed wooden beams as an analogy to reclaim Canadian values.

“Let’s be honest, the guy is just weird,” Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen tweeted Friday on X, accompanying his post with a screenshot of the wood video. His Liberal colleague Ryan Turnbull broadened his attack, calling Conservative MP Arnold Viersen's opposition to abortion rights “really bizarre.”

Much Ado About Nothing?

Jeff Ballingall, president of Mobilize Media Group and founder of Ontario Proud, said the move reflects Liberals’ “desperation” as polls show they are lagging far behind the Conservatives. “Nothing they’re doing is working,” he said. “And they’re going to go out on a limb and try whatever works. They’re going to throw a lot of mud at the wall and see what sticks.”

The tactic is clearly inspired by a recent trend in the United States, which began when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz exclaimed that Republicans were “just weird” during a television appearance in July. Since then, Democrats have adopted the “weird” tactic to attack Messrs. Trump and Vance, and much ink has been spilled over the assessment of the damage that would cause.

A piece in the Washington Post described the word as a powerful attack on a Republican Party that sees itself as a bastion of normalcy. Another warned that it underestimated the threat of a second Trump presidency.

Regardless, the insult seems to have rubbed off on Donald Trump — in an interview Thursday, he insisted that he and Vance were “not weird people.”

The Conservatives, too, have chosen not to simply turn the other cheek. In a statement, Pierre Poilievre accused Justin Trudeau of “trying to distract from the fact that he is the truly weird guy with the crackpot policies that have left Canada broke and Canadians broke.” Poilievre was booted from the House of Commons last April after calling Trudeau a “crazy prime minister.”

On social media, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner posted a series of photos of Justin Trudeau, including one of him with blackface at a party in 2001, and called him “completely crazy.”

Jeff Ballingall disputed the suggestion that Conservatives were hurt by the insult. “If they want to talk about weird stuff, they’re welcome to, and we have a million things to say,” he said.

Conservative strategist Jamie Ellerton explained that Canadian political parties “are constantly importing tactics from south of the border with varying degrees of success and value.” But he said the Liberals were “hypocritical” in regularly accusing the Conservatives of bringing “American-style politics” to Canada, while blatantly borrowing from the Democrats.

Andrew Perez, principal of Perez Strategies and a Liberal strategist, thinks the Liberals will have a hard time replicating the success Democrats have had with this “weird” tactic. “I see where they’re going, because I think Pierre Poilievre is not a conventional leader,” he says. But he also points out that nothing the Liberals have tried lately has had much impact on recent polls.

“I don’t think it’s going to hurt. I’m not sure it’s going to help.”