Poilievre focuses on affordability, national unity in speech ahead of Conservative leadership vote

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I popped out into the lobby and spoke to six delegates milling about after Poilievre’s speech. 

Each praised the speech and were uniformly confident the Conservative leader would perform well in the leadership vote, which is underway now.

“He’s still the guy. No doubt,” said Liam Venner.

Father and son Charlie and Chris Martin both agreed the speech was excellent, saying they thought it showed Poilievre was committed to conservative principles.

“It touched on things conservatives find important," said Chris Martin. 

Poilievre was quite emotional speaking about the sacrifices he's endured doing this job, dodging what he calls "slings and arrows." 

He's been away from his family for long stretches of time, he said, and he often has to kiss his wife and daughter goodnight through FaceTime. 

He spoke about his autistic daughter, Valentina, and hearing her speak for the first time — saying it's moments like those that remind him to keep fighting through hardship.

Poilievre wrapped up his speech touching on his personal motivations for wanting to remain as leader. He talked about the demands of the job, getting emotional while speaking about sometimes being away from his family.

"So why keep going?" he asked.

"Because we want our kids to have the same promise that we had. Because we want them to know that when you care about something, you work for it; when you believe in something, you fight for it. And most of all, when you start something, you never give up," he said.

"We stand united, tonight, together, always. Because this country, its people and promise are worth fighting for. Because, while some say 'this is as good as it gets,' we know the best is yet to come."

Weighing in on the national unity issues facing the country, Poilievre argues there has "never been a referendum crisis or a national unity crisis when Conservatives have been in power," which is a charitable reinterpretation of what led up to the 1995 Quebec referendum.

That vote came about, in part, because Quebec nationalists were frustrated by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's failed Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords. 

Mulroney, of course, was a Progressive Conservative.

But Poilievre is right that there was virtually no meaningful talk of western alienation when Harper was in power.

Organizers built anticipation for what Poilievre was going to say about separatism in Quebec and Alberta. If there was any suspicion he’d kick hard against those movements, the speech dashed it.

Instead, he blamed the Liberals for the movements' growth. 

“Just as night follows day, separatist movements are in resurgence … which had been dormant or even dead when Prime Minister Harper left office.”

He also pointed a finger at Liberals’ attitudes toward history “filled with shame and horror,” the energy sector and provincial jurisdictional issues.

The counterargument he offers is for disillusioned young Albertans and Québecois and others to hold out hope for a Conservative government. Poilievre suggests they’ll again have a Canada that “is proud of our common history” and will be affordable.

This produced one of the speech’s few standing ovations in the hall.

Although he has been critical of the Liberals, Poilievre says he's ready to work with Carney to resolve Trump's trade war.

He said Conservatives will "renew our good-faith offer to help the prime minister and his government get U.S. Tariffs removed and open new markets abroad."

"We will work with the government in any way we can because Conservatives always put our country ahead of our party," he said.

"In this dangerous and uncertain world, Canadians must stand united so we can stand on our own feet. United and strong, Canadians will bow before no nation anywhere on earth."

The lines may not be so new from Pierre Poilievre, but the delivery seems a little different. He is relaxed, upbeat and smiling. He also doesn’t seem concerned about the outcome of tonight.

And he is addressing one of the many complaints from delegates: that the nomination process in the last election was not well done and often kept out good candidates. Acknowledging that needs to change will make some people in this room very happy.

He also shot back at those who suggested Conservatives should have changed their strategy in the last election. The strategy seems to be the same moving forward: the Conservatives will position themselves as the party that will make things easier for Canadians.

That strategy may or may not work in the face of global upheaval.

Polievre says one thing he's learned from Conservative delegates at the convention so far is that the membership feels he shouldn't change too much as it relates to policy or principles. 

No one expected Poilievre to suddenly pivot to a more moderate brand of conservatism after losing the last election, but he is clearly enunciating something important here: he feels like he has a winning agenda that doesn't need much of a radical overhaul.

More than 10 minutes into the speech, there wasn’t yet a line this accomplished orator delivered that brought delegates to their feet.

But this one got Conservative attendees standing: “You told us to ignore the voices who keep telling us to abandon our Conservative principles.”

The party base is, unsurprisingly, mainly fond of its ideological ideas. 

Poilievre’s made a mark by serving up Conservative-friendly ideas and messages both in his leadership campaign and ever since. And this was a reminder he wants them to have that mind as they cast judgement on his leadership tonight.

Poilievre's speech has also gotten into familiar territory: prosecuting the Liberal government for what he described as its failures.

He hammered the Liberals for "money-printing deficits" that are "inflating everything."

"Mr. Carney: he promised to change all that. But here we are a year later. . . What's changed in your life, really?" Poilievre asked.

Poilievre took aim at the environmental laws he has long argued are holding back natural resources development.

While Carney is promoting a new oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast to expand the market for Canada's oil amid the U.S. Trade war, Poilievre said, the government still hasn't approved that project.

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