Poilievre and his ‘bring it home’ doctrine

How does Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pronounce his last name? What does he think about the recent UN vote on the Israel-Hamas conflict? Would he cut immigration?

As Poilievre marked the end of his first full year as Opposition Leader, he did rounds of year-end media interviews, although he has thus far declined the Star’s request to chat.

But we listened to 10 interviews with journalists across the country, and while they were replete with his regular stock answers on housing, carbon pricing and personal attacks on the Liberals and New Democrats, they did shed some new light on who Poilievre is and what he’d like to do if he was prime minister.

On immigration

That Canada’s immigration levels aren’t being matched with adequate access to housing or social services is a fact that’s been noted by everyone from advocates to the Bank of Canada to the government.

But Poilievre hasn’t said whether he’d maintain or cut immigration, even as he is raising concerns about a perceived lack of government action on housing.

He was pressed on this question by some of the reporters he sat down with, but didn’t explicitly answer questions on what number he’d attach to immigration targets. Instead, he offered a peek at a promise he’ll make during the next election: his campaign platform will link immigration to the number of homes built, the number of doctors required and the availability of jobs.

“It will be mathematically driven,” he told True North’s Andrew Lawton.

What does the math say about what that promise might mean?

In 2022, there were 219,942 homes completed, according to federal data. That same year, according to the Immigration Department, 437,539 permanent residents were admitted.

A recent RBC study, meanwhile, suggested that by 2028, the country will be short 44,000 physicians, with family doctors making up 72 per cent of that deficit.

In an interview with CFAX 1070’s Al Ferraby, Poilievre claimed there are 20,000 foreign-trained doctors and 32,000 foreign-trained nurses unable to work in Canada because they can’t get their credentials recognized. He has pledged to speed up that process. He did not provide a source for the numbers.

On the Israel-Hamas conflict

The day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to switch Canada’s position at the United Nations and vote in favour of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, Poilievre was nowhere to be seen. His office issued a brief statement, attributed to no one, and so the question of what Poilievre made of it all, and what he would have done, has been hanging in the air.

The subject came up in nearly every interview he gave and he attacked Trudeau’s decision.

He accused him of flip-flopping because of donor pressure and said Trudeau then “sent out” Jewish MPs to disagree with him in public so he could be seen as saying different things to different groups.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is Jewish and spoke out against Canada’s vote in favour of a ceasefire, told the Star no one told him what to say or do.

Poilievre said Canada’s vote amounted to allowing Hamas to keep the hostages it seized in the Oct. 7 attack and continue fighting, as there were no conditions attached to the UN resolution.

In response to a question about what he makes of ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations, he told the National Post’s Rex Murphy that “I have no problem supporting a cause that is favourable to the Palestinian people. But right now, we’re seeing as an agenda that is not pro-Palestinian, it is pro-Hamas.”

He also told numerous interviewers, including CityNews’ Rob Snow, that the path to peace in his view involves Hamas releasing hostages, laying down its arms and being held accountable for its Oct. 7 attacks. From there, peace talks with Palestinians and other Arab countries can continue, he said.

On foreign policy more broadly

Poilievre hasn’t commented in depth on foreign policy questions over the year of his leadership, and has previously framed much of his position around Canada’s energy sector and needing to do more to get oil and gas resources to market so as to reduce global dependency on less democratic nations.

But in interviews with CKNW and CJME/CKOM’s Evan Bray, Poilievre said his approach to foreign policy will be styled as the “bring it home doctrine.”

What does that mean? He said he’d “cut back on aid that ends up in the hands of dictators, terrorists and multinational bureaucracies” and spend it on the Canadian military, or put another way, focus on “bringing home our money rather than giving it away.”

What other Liberal bills or regulations would he repeal or revoke, besides the carbon tax?

In the news this week were new regulations requiring that by 2035, all new vehicles must be electric.

Poilievre called that a tax on the poor, as the cost of EV vehicles is higher than gas-powered ones, and people who can’t afford them will suffer.

Nothing in the regulations prohibits people from buying gas-powered cars on the secondary market.

He said he’d revoke the regulations, and told AM640’s Alex Pierson that “we need smart regulations to improve fuel efficiency, gradually, year after year, and that will save money for consumers while protecting the environment.”

He also committed to repealing the recently passed firearms bill, known as C-21, that implements a ban on the sale or transfer of handguns, as well as tougher restrictions on who can own a gun.

On his name

Poilievre was asked twice how to pronounce his last name, with the Toronto Sun’s Brian Lilley riffing off the fact that Poilievre’s wife jokes that no one knows how to say it.

He told Lilley that the name comes directly from France, and his father’s grandfather came from there to Saskatchewan. In France, Poilievre said, the “r” in his name is rolled, so it is pronounced “Pwahlee-ev-ruh” but no one ever says it that way and he’s fine with Polly-ev.

“I mean, I’m easy with first name basis,” he told Lilley.