It has been decided that Pierre Poilievre needs help.
When a majority of opinion respondents, even in bluest Alberta, tell pollster Nick Nanos that the Conservative leader needs to be replaced, while Poilievre is still supposedly enjoying his political honeymoon period, the presumptive prime minister-to-be apparently should adopt some New Year’s resolutions to increase public approval.
Notably, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had an even higher level of unpopularity in the same survey.
So while insiders are betting that Poilievre is more likely to double down on controversial positions and policies than moderate them for the mainstream, here are seven New Year’s resolutions for a more popular political figure to woo the voters he needs. to win.
HARMONIZED PUBLIC HEALTH AND CARBON TAX POSITION
With cases of the new Omicron variant being identified in Canada, Poilievre should support voluntary unmasking and advocate for booster vaccinations without raising the specter that everything is moving toward government-imposed mandates.
And Poilievre can’t just defend the end of the carbon tax while green-lighting pipelines in every direction without a credible counterbalance to climate change.
So far it’s just spewing hot air. If his ultimate goal is to become prime minister, Poilievre should pare down his role as “official opposition” to less opposition and more positioning.
QUICKLY RETURN NON-STARTED CAMPAIGN PLEDGES
Yes, that means admitting that he’s not actually going to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada.
Because, after all, he can’t be dumped without a bunch of excuses, which are missing for now. Poilievre may also recast his opposition to alternative medicine in safe injection sites as “woke liberal” politics.
Even former conservative senator and police chief Vernon White wrote off Poilievre’s jabs as uneducated rants.
DISCONNECT WITH THE CONVOY
When Emergency Act Inquiry Commissioner Paul Rouleau delivers his report next month, Poilievre should not gloat if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is found to have over-invoked the Act, and he should not overthink the conclusion if found that it was justified. Accept the report as a reasonable conclusion to a dismal national experience and move on.
BE MORE OPEN WITH THE PRESS
This seems self-serving, but Poilievre should decide to be more open with the parliamentary press gallery.
You don’t have to like or be friendly with the reporting crowd, but accessibility is the hard part of being in charge. And even opposition leaders need to be held accountable to the microphone to be credible.
LISTEN MORE, TALK LESS
Poilievre needs to exercise his ears more and his tongue less. This means going beyond the subliminal Members of Parliament and bowing staff for ideas and advice. Retired alumni like former interim leader Rona Ambrose, former deputy leader Lisa Wright and true-blue but soft-hearted retired MP Larry Miller have the pulse of the grassroots right and the political instincts to sell conservative politics to the mainstream. Listen and learn.
BE LESS MEAN
Former leader Erin O’Toole wrote a thoughtful essay attacking these vile anti-Trudeau flags as a nasty reflection of democracy-destroying polarization.
Poilievre dismissed it as understandable frustration with the government. O’Toole was right. The last thing Canada needs is a leader whose mindset seems determined to widen the political divide. And drop the “Canada is broken” line. The country is fine. You want to blame the government for breaking things.
SMILE MORE
Finally, smiling a little more often won’t hurt. That vintage scowl of Stephen Harper won the election only because voters felt the weight of a conservative leader they didn’t particularly like but trusted enough to deserve their ballot. This is not a widely held belief for the official opposition leader. Poilievre’s friendly personality upgrade could help him claim a better position for the next election.
This is the most important….
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