'Stronger than any party... in my lifetime'
Pierre Poilievre gives some interviews, makes some video
Pierre Poilievre’s face has aged more in three years than Justin Trudeau’s in 12. Early in his long interview with the psychologist/ author/ confusing suit wearer Jordan Peterson we see a clip from Poilievre’s most recent interview with Peterson, in mid-2022. Whatever has become of that apple-cheeked lad? Poilievre’s face is now lined, the downturned set of his mouth semi-permanent, the hair at his temples streaked with grey. The wait for office seems to wear him more than the weight of office on his opponent.
Yet Poilievre was in a good mood. “I don’t feel beaten down,” he told Peterson near the end, referring specifically to the last two and a half years. “I feel emboldened and strengthened.”
“Right. Right. So that hasn’t demoralized you?” said Peterson, whose interviewing style seems to be modelled on Chester the terrier from the Warner Bros. cartoons.
“Not at all. In fact, to the contrary, I feel more invigorated than ever before,” Poilievre said. Why? “Because I have a mission,” Poilievre said, at last flashing a smile.
For understandable reasons, the country’s attention has been focussed on the Liberal Party’s difficulties. Trudeau cancelled all of his year-end interviews except the one he’d done before Chrystia Freeland did the thing. Poilievre kept his modest slate of interview appointments, speaking not just to Peterson but to the editor of Winnipeg Jewish Review, to La Presse’s Ottawa bureau chief, and probably to others.
Poilievre also had his own party’s comms shop produce a video about the Liberals, with what he may have thought was a light comic touch:
I have so many feelings. But a lot of people around Ottawa this week thought Poilievre was foolishly contravening the old bit of wisdom, “When your opponent is beating himself up, don’t interrupt.” I’m not sure I buy that advice. Strictly applied, it would mean Poilievre should have kept his mouth shut since 2021, because Trudeau has been in a boxing ring with himself for at least that long.