Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre’s path to power may be to prosecute Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s last eight years of government, but his path to victory is painted in NDP orange. .
Appealing to working-class voters in regional and northern elections, such as those supported by the New Democratic Party across British Columbia and the Liberal Party in northern Ontario, is part of what Poièvre sees as a winning formula.
That offensive was in full force on Vancouver Island in recent days, crossing NDP turf, rallying supporters in Nanaimo and posing for photos with factory workers in Port Alberni. He also visited steel mills and ports in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland to meet workers, images of which dominated his social media.
“We’re seeing Tory Leader Pierre Poièvre on the shop floor and on the factory floor,” said Allie Blades, a strategist who worked on B.C.’s 2022 leadership campaign.
Blaise, who works at Mash Strategies, said it’s a populist approach that has worked well for Poilievre so far.
“I think this is a very correct and strategic shift by the Conservative Party,” she said. “We’re looking at the floor and the stage.”
Of course, factories are traditional New Democratic territory and are home to an important voting bloc that the NDP has no intention of surrendering without a fight.
“You’ve never seen [Poilievre] on the picket line,” said Anne McGrath, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s chief of staff and former party national director.
“You can go to the field and see what is happening on the ground, but when the time comes and the workers need support from political leaders, we have never seen him on the ground.”
Mr McGrath acknowledged Mr Poièvre had clearly struck a nerve by exploiting legitimate public concerns about affordability, but his message was “simple”. So are the choices voters face, she says.
“They have big, loud megaphone voices like the Conservatives and Pierre Poièvre, or they have the constructive, forward-looking proposals and actions that you would expect from the NDP.”
“It takes a lot of hard work and effort” to sell it. [a] The NDP has already begun ramping up its attacks on the Conservatives, flooding traditionally friendly areas with mail carriers.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre said most average Canadian households pay more in carbon taxes than they receive in rebates, despite the Liberal government’s claims to the contrary.
Conservatives have a head start in opinion polls
Melanie Richer, Mr. Singh’s communications director, said their fight is likely to be an uphill battle — not only because Mr. Poilievre’s message is crisp and resonant, but also because the Conservatives are well-funded. .
Poièvre’s populist approach has helped the Conservative Party break fundraising records. The money is essential to the leader’s aggressive public schedule and outreach to new voters, such as those who typically vote for the NDP.
He has held 16 rallies and other meet-and-greets so far this year, six for NDP-sponsored elections compared to eight for the Liberals. Through 2023, his first full year as leader, the ratio was NDP 12 to Liberal 19.
Blaise believes Poièvre’s success with typical NDP voters such as B.C. is the result of a “pragmatic message” that Singh “never could have truly achieved.” said.
British Columbia is a province severely affected by the housing crisis and the opioid epidemic, both of which Poièvre attributes directly to two factors: the federal Liberal government and its NDP counterpart.
While critics have drummed up his crusade against consumer carbon pricing as a campaign of slogans and misinformation, supporters see it as an optimistic message, Blades said. Even in British Columbia, where a provincial carbon price has been in place for years.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said it would be difficult to see veteran NDP MPs Rachel Blaney, Carol Hughes and Charlie Angus retire from politics, but the party has “attractive candidates” to replace them. He said there are “many candidates.”
Nor can the NDP’s bloodshed from caucus members hurt the Conservatives’ fortunes. Six MPs have already announced they are leaving the party or not running again, including three just last week, including one who has served the party in Northern Ontario for 20 years. It was Charlie Angus.
Richer said the NDP has seen many working-class voters leave the party since the death of Jack Layton in 2011, and it’s time to rethink the NDP’s relationship with working-class voters. Ta.
“We just don’t connect with them,” she said.
Mr Richer called on the party to be more vocal about the role it played in securing the Liberal Party’s commitment to the country’s medical and dental health plans through supply and confidence agreements with the government. So far, efforts to do so have yielded little results.
She pointed to Manitoba, where NDP Premier Wab Kinew won a historic victory in last year’s election by confronting public anger and “instead giving people hope.”
the house12:44Take NDP’s temperature
NDP supporters are saying their final goodbyes to Ed Broadbent this weekend during a state funeral in Ottawa. Broadbent believed the NDP was most effective when it posed a political threat. But is that still the case? NDP strategists Mike McKinnon and Melanie Richer discuss the health of his NDP movement.
Poièvre’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether the Conservative government would retain the federal dental care plan. He also wasn’t into pharmacare.
Union leaders say the Tory frontman is borrowing working-class language because he has frequently supported back-to-work legislation in parliament for more than 20 years. But they argue that it actually poses a threat to organized labor.
The party is working hard to restore its image with labor unions, with MPs supporting a Liberal bill (promoted by the NDP) that would ban lockouts in federally regulated workplaces and the hiring of replacement workers during strikes. We are working.