Last week, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre sat down with Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson on his DailyWire podcast for a wide-reaching long-form interview.
For nearly two hours, they discussed a range of topics, including inflation, the housing crisis, immigration, wokeism, and what a Poilievre government would look like.
The Hub has compiled a list of Poilievre’s best quotes from the viral interview that has received over 40 million views.
1. Staying truly conservative instead of shifting Left
“This is the mistake that conservative parties around the world have made countless times. They think, ‘Well, anybody who’s got a conservative mindset is already voting for me, so I can go off and chase the ideas of my political opponents, and then everyone will love me, because I’ll have the conservatives due to the fact that I have the name Conservative, and then I’ll have all these other people because I’ve embraced their contrary direction.’
In the short term, it works because you’ve managed to have all the different political ideologies captured in one tent. But the problem happens when the policies are a disaster, and then people wake up and go, ‘Oh, my God, my taxes are now up, inflation is out of control, the deficit is spiralling, there’s crime on the streets.’ Does the temptation exist to try and take on the political policies of the socialists in the short term? Sure. But it’s one that I will fiercely resist, because I know that by the fourth year of my mandate, people would be enraged because their lives would be even worse.”
2. Supporters need to stay politically active following an election to get policy implemented
“It’s going to be a big fight with all of these things, because there are so many vested interests that will be trying to hold us back, so many small economic groups that have profited off the status quo. They will be fighting against me. I’m going to have to put out a call to Canadians that they have to stay politically active. They can’t assume that, simply by voting in an election, all the problems are going to reverse instantaneously. I will need people to put pressure on the Senate to adopt my economic reforms. I will need people to put pressure on their mayors and local councillors to get out of the way and let us build homes.”
People wave signs as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a rally in Montreal, June 19, 2024. Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press.
3. Canada’s new Conservative movement is youth-led
“Youth were the first to come on board with me. My rallies were overwhelmingly populated with youth, which is not normal for Conservatives. And the reason is because young people want to have the adventure of their lives. They want to go into the wilderness, earn a living, bring it home, raise kids, and have a purpose that’s bigger than just short-termism.”
“…When I meet young people today, they are exhausted. They have bags under their eyes, and all they do is work, and the worst part about it is not that they’re working all the time, it’s that they don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
4. He believes inflation is an “immoral tax”
“Inflation is the single most immoral tax for so many reasons. One, it takes from savers and people who are trying to be responsible, thus making it impossible to be responsible. Because if you refuse to play the inflation game of borrowing money to buy things you can’t afford, someone else inevitably will, and you won’t be able to afford anything. So, you ultimately have to act irresponsibly.”
“…The second reason it’s immoral is that it is taken from the poor, because the poorest people do not have the ability to buy inflation-proof assets like gold, real estate, fancy watches, art collections, or fancy wines—things that go up with or even exceed inflation.”
“… The final reason why it’s so immoral is that nobody votes on it. The basic principle of our parliamentary system is that the government can’t tax what parliament has not voted. No taxation without representation, right? But no one ever votes to have the money printing happen. So the inflation is adopted secretly.”
A man tears an Indian flag in half during a protest outside the Indian Consulate, in Vancouver, on Monday, September 25, 2023. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press.
5. Immigrants must leave behind their ethno-cultural conflicts
“Foreign conflicts are now spilling onto our streets. I want to put an end to that. I want to say, ‘Look, we’re not interested in the world’s ethno-cultural conflicts.’ We welcome the people who come from places that have been afflicted by war, as long as they leave the war behind. And frankly, most people come here to get away from those things. So by getting back to a common sense of values and identity, and reminding people that when they get here, they are Canadian first. Canada first. Leave the hyphens; we don’t need to be a hyphenated society.”
6. Replacing wokeism with merit and national unity
“Wokeism seeks to divide people into these different groups and subgroups, and we see the results in a 250 percent increase in hate crimes [since 2015]. But we’re going to get back to the basic principle that people are judged based on their individual character and humanity, rather than by their group identity. That is actually, ironically, the most unifying thing we can do to bring our country back together; as Lincoln put it, ‘to bind up the nation’s wounds.’”
7. Justin Trudeau is Canada’s first NDP prime minister
“We already have an NDP Prime Minister. Justin Trudeau is actually much more radical than the traditional NDP. Trudeau attacked the NDP for being too conservative, but because he had the comfortable blanket of the Liberal Party, which governed for most of the last century, people didn’t realize what kind of radical they were dealing with.”
8. Canadians aren’t obliged to wait for the Liberals to “sort out their shit”
“The liberal media is all saying, ‘Well, surely you wouldn’t want to trigger an election during the Liberal leadership race.’ Excuse me, 41 million people are not obliged to wait around while this party sorts out its shit. These guys could have gotten rid of Trudeau a year and a half ago. They knew he was a disaster then, and now they say, ‘Well, we’re low in the polls, so we have to get rid of him.’ You didn’t care when he was just depriving single mothers of food for their kids or doubling housing costs or unleashing crime in neighborhoods across the country, but now you’re really concerned about getting rid of him because your poll numbers are down. You want to keep your job.”
9. On his political legacy
“I know why I am doing this, and I want to get this done for the country, and I want to leave behind the opportunity for every other Canadian—the chance I had as a kid. It’s personal for me. I don’t come from a privileged or wealthy background, I was adopted by school teachers, grew up in a normal suburban neighborhood. We didn’t always have money, but I was able to get here. And my wife has the same story; she came here with nothing, and she’s had a great life. Her family has had a great life. I love that about this country. And the idea that I could restore that as my life’s work for other people, to me, that is exhilarating; that excites me. If that could be the only thing I do with my career, that would be an incredibly rewarding outcome.”
The full interview can be watched here.
ChatGPT assisted in the creation of this article.
Élie Cantin-Nantel is The Hub’s Ottawa Correspondent. Prior to joining the team, he practiced journalism for a variety of outlets. Élie also has experience working on Parliament Hill and is completing a joint honours in communication and political science at the University of Ottawa. He is bilingual....
