For months, most of Canada was convinced that Pierre Poilievre would be Canada’s next prime minister. But nothing is certain in politics, and the last few months have been an astounding, mind-bending case study in how such predictions are folly. Trudeau resigned, Trump started a trade war, Carney became PM and our notoriously self-deprecating country erupted in a fit of exuberant patriotism.
Within weeks, the country Trudeau famously called “a post-national state” transformed into a bastion of flag wavers, maple-leaf-pin wearers and national anthem belters. Pierre Poilievre found himself in a pickle. His winning mantra was “Canada is broken.” Suddenly a broken Canada sounded more appealing than being the 51st state.
Polls suggest that many think Carney is the candidate best equipped to deal with Trump’s menacing volatility and are willing to put aside their misgivings about the last 10 years of Liberal rule and vote for him. And yet the myriad domestic concerns that elevated Poilievre pre-Trump persist. How is he promising to change the country? Who stands to gain from a Poilievre win? What industries and institutions will profit? In a special package on the election, we set out to answer these questions. It turns out that Poilievre’s Canada looks pretty different from the one we inhabit today.
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—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief, Maclean’s
