Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre delivers a speech on national unity in Calgary on Monday. Poilievre’s strength is his ability to mirror the angst of the electorate and repeat it back to them in a way that makes them feel heard, writes Robyn Urback.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
There’s a lineup of imperfect candidates who could make the case for Canada ahead of Alberta’s referendum-to-have-a-referendum on sovereignty in the fall.
There’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, of course, the most prominent federalist in the country and one who happened to spend the majority of his childhood and adolescence in Alberta. But Mr. Carney is Albertan in the same way that I am royalty; just because I spent some years putting on princess dresses doesn’t mean Queen Camilla sees me as a peer. Mr. Carney spent much of his pre-political life talking up net-zero and indirectly talking down Alberta industry. He simply cannot speak to Albertans with the same air of provincial kinship as prime ministers Pierre Trudeau or Jean Chrétien could with Quebeckers.
There’s former premier Jason Kenney, who has already emerged as one of the leading and most compelling voices against separatism in Alberta. Mr. Kenney is Albertan through and through and he can certainly speak with credibility to the anxieties and frustrations of the average Albertan, but it was only five years ago that he suffered from the worst approval rating of all the premiers (31 per cent) and then resigned in 2022 as United Conservative Party (UCP) leader after garnering just 51 per cent support from membership. Mr. Kenney also helped to stoke the animosity toward Ottawa that he is now trying to help control, which makes his authority and reputation both on the issue, and in Alberta, rather complicated.
Poilievre issues call for national unity, federalism reform in speech to Albertans
And then there’s Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who suffers from a similar Alberta imposter syndrome as does Mr. Carney (Mr. Poilievre became an Albertan MP only out of necessity and has lived his entire adult life in Ontario), though he has never wavered on his support for Alberta industry, for pipelines, and for the people of Alberta. He’s in a better position than Mr. Kenney to speak to both Albertans and the rest of Canada simultaneously, which makes him a translator, of sorts, of successionist motivation and ideology. “Those who are choosing separation from Canada are not our enemies,” he said to a crowd in Calgary on Monday, kicking off a campaign to convince Albertans to stay in Canada. “Demonizing people who have lost hope in Canada is no way to restore it.”
Mr. Poilievre’s speech offered a mix of nostalgic Canadiana, classic Western grievance politics, personal anecdote, a little bit of misdirection (listeners could be forgiven for coming away believing separatists didn’t exist before Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister), and, of course, a plea for unity: “The answer therefore for Albertans is not to pull away from our friends in other provinces, but to lock arms with them to make Canada affordable, safe, self-reliant, and united here at home.” His message was that Albertans do not walk away from a challenge, and that they must band together with the rest of Canada to demand a better country.
Some pundits assessed Mr. Poilievre’s speech as too partisan: as taking too many swipes at the federal government, and not enough swipes in the direction of dangers of a successful vote for secession. But to speak to the people of Alberta with any credibility, Mr. Poilievre had to take those shots; he had to echo their legitimate grievances, their frustrations, their anger at the way their province has been looked down upon by easterners who nevertheless enjoy the province’s economic contributions to confederation.
Indeed, Mr. Poilievre’s enduring strength as a politician is his ability to mirror the angst of the electorate, and repeat it back to them in a way that makes them feel heard. That’s how he can make the case for Canada to Albertans who otherwise might not want to listen (with the exception of militant separatist leaders, who will see any call for unity as a betrayal). Albertans need to feel seen and heard by the rest of Canada to continue to want to be part of it, and Mr. Poilievre offers them that opportunity.
There’s political advantage for Mr. Poilievre too, particularly outside of Alberta. By campaigning against separation, the Conservative Leader gets to put on a “Captain Canada” hat in a manner that doesn’t involve the words “Donald Trump.” He looked inauthentic when he attempted to wear it during the election campaign – at least in comparison to Mr. Carney. That contrast, combined with Mr. Poilievre’s messaging about the various ways Canada was “broken,” left him out-of-step with the mood of the moment. But now he gets to tap into that mood, to offer himself as a “Captain Canada” of a slightly different brand. He tried on the hat Monday, and it worked for him. He should wear it for the rest of the summer.