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Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poièvre listens to questions from the media during a press conference about hospital safety in Vancouver on May 14.Ethan Cairns/Canadian Press
There's an old joke that political strategists sometimes tell about two campers who saw a bear coming towards them.
When one of them stopped to put on his running shoes, a second camper said sneakers wouldn't help him outrun the bear. “We don't have to outrun the bear,” says the first camper, “we just need to outrun you.”
For Conservative leader Pierre Poièvre, this is clearly an example. He dismissed all thorny questions about how to govern if it doesn't help defeat the incumbent prime minister. He just needs to outdo Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
So when he was asked a direct question at a press conference in Vancouver on Tuesday whether, as premier, he would reverse the Liberal government's recent capital gains tax increase, he wavered.
The same day, Prime Minister Trudeau visited Port Colborne, Ont., to learn more about Honda's new electric vehicle battery separator plant, part of a series of investments planned by Honda Motor Company with $5 billion in federal and federal grants. The construction site has been announced. Government of Ontario.
Both governments have announced tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for EV supply chain factories, and Poièvre was asked whether he would cancel Ottawa's investment tax credits. He didn't answer that question. He criticized Trudeau on other matters.
A political strategist could explain why. Mr. Poilievre just needs to overtake Mr. Trudeau. He wants to talk about issues he feels he can use to defeat his opponent, including the consumer carbon tax, the deficit, bail rules and crime. Reducing capital gains taxes is politically a double-edged sword. So are the incredibly high EV industry subsidies that promise jobs for swingers. So he doesn't answer.
“It's always interesting when the media comes up to me and says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a utopia. Are you going to get rid of his utopia if you're elected?” he said. “Well then, let's take a look at this utopia first.”
But no one asked M. Poilievre about Utopia. He was asked what he planned to do as prime minister. This is a very important topic for Canadians, and it's not just about scorekeeping in a political context. Mr. Poiivre answers many of these questions by talking about Mr. Trudeau.
This is the current state of Canadian politics. The latest Nanos Research poll puts Mr Poièvre's Conservative Party ahead by 20 percentage points, making it the heavy favorite to win the election, which is likely still 17 months away. Ordinary non-partisan Canadians (which is most people in Canada) probably want to hear Mr. Poilievre explain his views on a variety of things. But he doesn't think it's necessary to outrun the bear.
Mr. Poilievre is very vocal about his opinions and even creates calculated controversy, for example by declaring that he would use the notwithstanding clause to enhance sentencing options for murderers. It is often surprising that he has no views on many important matters.
Last year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland introduced a budget that outlined $80 billion in industrial subsidies for green technology, including electrification of the state's electric utilities and green technology manufacturing. But Poièvre did not say whether he was for or against all of them.
The federal government and the province of Ontario have pledged a total of $28.2 billion to Stellantis and Volkswagen to attract battery factories. Poilievre's party has criticized allowing temporary foreign workers to install machinery, but has not said whether it will end all subsidies.
This is a pretty big deal, especially as Canada's largest trading partner, the United States, is planning a 10-year industrial strategy with massive subsidies. Canadians may want to hear how Poièvre would deal with Trudeau if he were no longer prime minister. But his answer was just a general diss about Mr. Trudeau.
“We always look at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's many promises and judge them by what actually happens, not by what he says,” he said. Then he went on talking about other things.
Of course politicians will attack their opponents. And Mr. Poièvre cannot be expected to explain all the details of his own governing platform now. But let's hope he doesn't spend the next 17 months naming Mr. Trudeau and answering questions about what he would do.
