Canada’s growing conservative movement is hitting back at ‘California on steroids’, strategist says
Canadian Conservative movement could gain significant momentum in this election year as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation amid mounting pressure from domestic critics and threats of tariffs from US President-elect Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the American conservative strategist Matt Shupe is leading the effort in Calgary, training activists, consultants and volunteers on how to build winning campaigns, positioning the movement for potential gains in the post-Trudeau era.
“From my own experience in Canada, I would describe it as California on steroids,” Shupe, 39, who recently served as a spokesman for the former MLB star Steve Garvey campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, Fox News Digital said in an interview.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre (Getty Images)
Shupe, who started in political consulting 10 years ago and founded Praetorian Services, said Trudeau’s resignation is reminiscent of President Biden’s exit from the 2024 presidential race.
“They took a page out of the DNC playbook with what they did with Biden,” Shupe said of Canada’s liberal wing. “If American politics serves as any analogy, it didn’t work for Kamala.”
Shupe noted that his conversations with Canadians suggest that progressive policies have pushed even many liberals toward the center. Working with the Leadership Institute, a conservative mentoring and training organization, Shupe said leaders plan to apply lessons and data from the U.S. election to strengthen the prospects of Canadian conservatives.
“The [conservative] the movement primarily attracted young people because they have no perspective, he said.They are taxed so very there, the cost of living is so high compared to their income and the cost of owning a home is so hard. Whenever I go there and talk to people my age or younger, even a little older, they all have the same complaints as the people I talk to in San Francisco.”
Meanwhile, Canada’s fiery conservative candidate Pierre Poilievre, who could become the nation’s next leader, has been compared to the likes of President-elect Donald Trump, who promises to crack down on immigration, inflation and budget deficit.
“I think what you’re seeing with the left in Canada and the United States is that it’s just gone too far, and they’ve reached a threshold with people that it’s just gone too far,” he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the media outside Rideau Cottage on January 6 in Ottawa. (AP/Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Poilievre, whose Conservative Party has almost three times the support of committed voters (47% compared to 18% for the Liberals) in this year’s general election, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004. The 45-year-old Calgary native became leader of Canada’s Conservatives in 2022 and has seen his party grow in popularity as Canadians grow weary of Trudeau, 53, whose Liberals formed a government in 2015.
Incoming Trump administration will likely soon face Poilievre’s government as the Conservatives are poised to win the next Canadian election, which could happen as early as this spring. When the House of Commons resumes on March 24, opposition parties are likely to defeat the minority Liberal government in a confidence vote, which would trigger a national vote that currently favors the Conservatives.
In his Peterson interview, Poilievre admitted that Trump, who proposed a 25% duty on Canadian imports“negotiates very aggressively and likes to win.” But as prime minister, the Conservative leader said he would seek “a grand deal that will make both countries safer, richer and stronger”.
TRUMP REACTED TO TRUDEAU’S RESIGNATION: ‘MANY IN CANADA LIKE TO BE THE 51ST COUNTRY’
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, speaks during the Canada Strong and Free Networking conference in Ottawa on April 11, 2024. (David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trudeau, after nearly a decade in office, has faced months of declining approval ratings amid growing frustration over rising inflation and skyrocketing living costs.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party elects its next leader through a vigorous national competitive process,” Trudeau said journalists Monday. “Last night I asked the leader of the Liberal Party to start that process. This country deserves the right choice at the next election and it became clear to me that if I have to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in the lead at that election.”
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“As you all know, I’m a fighter and I’m not one to back down from a fight. Especially when the fight is as important as this one. But I’ve always been driven by my love for Canada, my desire to serve Canadians and what’s in their best interest Canadians, and Canadians deserve the right choice in the next election,” Trudeau added. “And it became obvious to me with the internal struggles that I couldn’t be the one to carry the liberal standard in the next election.”
Fox News Digital’s Christopher Guly contributed to this report.
