Poilievre building rather than burning bridges

Pierre Poilievre did not win the Conservative leadership by using the subtle arts of diplomacy.

But in his first couple of weeks on the job, Poilievre has been making some choices — especially on the hiring front — that seem to reveal an interest in building as many bridges as the new leader had been expected to burn.

It would be a mistake to cast these developments as proof of a kinder, gentler Poilievre, especially this early in his tenure. But he is defying many expectations that Poilievre would launch into his new job in pure attack mode.

Who would have predicted, for instance, that Poilievre would be extending an offer of “solidarity” with Justin Trudeau’s government this week?

Opening question period on Monday with words of support for all of those in the Atlantic who suffered through hurricane Fiona, Poilievre asked, “Would the government please tell us its action plan to help, and how members of this side of the House could join in solidarity with the government to make that help a success for our fellow Canadians in the East?”

That’s not exactly the kind of question Liberals are accustomed to hearing from Poilievre and it’s not clear they have prepared to contend with this expanded range in tone. Later in question period, in fact, government House leader Mark Holland found himself asking Conservatives to take their cue from their new leader’s opening remarks.

“At the beginning of this day, that was the sentiment I heard,” Holland said. “Right now, we all need to be pulling in the same direction.”

It may well be that the events of the past couple of weeks have conspired to elevate the tone of discourse in the Commons, even for the always combative Poilievre.

His first days on the job were overshadowed by the death of Queen Elizabeth and the wallto-wall tributes for the quiet, dignified duty of public service. Poilievre’s second week on the job comes against the backdrop of massive hurricane damage in the East, devastation that requires members of Parliament to rise above petty politics.

But there are other signs behind the scenes that Poilievre is playing a longer, possibly wider game than anticipated. His new chief of staff, Ian Todd, is a solid citizen of Canadian politics, who once served as a righthand aide to Reform Party leader Preston Manning and was well known for his civil tone with friends and foes alike.

CBC reported this week that Poilievre has chosen a new top lawyer for the party, Michael Wilson, another Toronto Conservative who is known for cross-party relationships.

So while it may be true that Poilievre will preside over the public face of the party with the same, take-no-prisoners approach that has endeared him to the hard-right base of the Conservatives, he’s also putting people in place who know a bit about talking beyond that base.

An Angus Reid poll out this week shows Poilievre is getting a bit of a honeymoon in the polls — although he still elicits more negative views than either Andrew Scheer or Erin O’Toole did when they won the top job. But the Conservatives overall have a seven-point lead over Trudeau’s Liberals.

Some of that has been acquired by attracting People’s Party of Canada supporters back into the Conservative fold — no surprise, perhaps, because Poilievre’s leadership bid played to many of the same sentiments feeding the PPC in the last election campaign, such as opposition to COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Senior Liberals insist they are not underestimating Poilievre. They know how tight the last election was and are aware of the deep channel of public frustration he’s been tapping. Liberals also know it may be harder to fight Poilievre with the same kind of scare campaigns they used so well against his predecessors.

They’ve been expecting a fight. What they might not have been expecting was an offer of solidarity on Monday, or some smart, sophisticated hiring decisions. These are signs the new Conservative leader is switching from the short game of leadership to a longer game against the Liberals, and they would be wise to adjust their sights accordingly.