Pierre Poilievre, The Next Prime Minister of Canada?: The Economy Is About To Collapse!
In a Nutshell
Pierre Poilievre critiques Canada's economic woes—stagnant GDP per capita, housing shortages from regulatory barriers, inflated costs from money printing and taxes, and blocked resource development—proposing solutions like fast permits, low taxes, unleashing oil/gas production, and merit-based immigration to restore affordability, wages, and growth. He advocates free enterprise over socialism-for-the-rich interventions, drawing from Adam Smith and personal hardships to champion meritocracy, individual freedom, and limited government focused on basics like safety nets. Amid global challenges like AI job disruption, Iran threats, and US relations, he remains optimistic about Canada's resource superpower potential under pro-growth policies, emphasizing stoicism, compassion (e.g., for his autistic daughter), and Western alliances.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Trump suggested Canada become the 51st state, which is never going to happen. Pierre Poilievre, leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, has a significant probability of being Canada's next leader. The United States decided to go it alone in the world, a very big strategic mistake. Canada has everything the United States needs if treated like a friend. Canada has the fourth biggest supply of oil. Among the top five oil reserve countries, the United States can most rely on Canada, not Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, or Iraq.
The Iranian government is extremely hostile and dangerous to Canada, the leading world sponsor of terrorism. They enrich uranium for developing a weapon, posing a far greater risk than North Korea. Initial actions against Iran were definitely necessary.
Canada is overtaking its population, punishing initiative, with 20,000 immigrant doctors unable to work in medicine. Wages have been destroyed; young people can't start a family in this economy. This explains why the working class across the Western world is angry. All of this can be reversed.
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History of wars starts in the post-war period with massive increase in US power and wealth. US unleashed capitalist system, out-hustled, out-produced, and out-grew the Soviet Union until it collapsed. China rose from 80% of population living on less than a dollar a day to second biggest economy. American working class screwed over by relentless money printing inflating cost of living and elite wealth. Pushback is justified but tariffing allies like Canada makes no sense. US should want more friends and trade. Poilievre touring US to make case for Canada, stronger with allies like Canada and UK.
US going it alone, talking about taking Greenland, Canada as 51st state—never going to happen. Adversarial shift from strong ally. Strategic mistake; better with traditional Western alliance that won Cold War against nuclear-armed expansionary Soviet Union via NATO and economic outproduction. Canada has fourth biggest oil supply (after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran), then Iraq and US. Canada most reliable for US, oil works with American refineries, sold at discount. Could build enormous reserve, e.g., if Strait of Hormuz closed, hundreds of millions of barrels ready. Rocket fuel for Canadian economy, strategically important for US. Cooperate with friendly posture and fully tariff-free trade.
Top oil countries (Venezuela #1, Saudi Arabia #2, Iran #3, Canada #4, Iraq #5, US #6) mostly in conflict with US. Canada adversarial lately. Dispute with Canada unclear; Canada good partner since early 1800s pre-Confederation. Collaborate with Canada for free trade in steel, aluminum, lumber, automobiles; in exchange, produce more oil at better prices. Also strategic minerals for modern warfare. Canada is a resource superpower; leverage for tariff-free trade.
Iran killed 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents by shooting down PS752 civilian aircraft without explanation. Unleashed agents to harass Jewish and Persian communities in Canada. Unacceptable for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons; enriching beyond nuclear power needs, for weapons. Could be catastrophic with long-range missiles. Canadian government view: cannot allow nuclear-armed Iran; actions to stop necessary for world peace. Initial bombings 4-5 months ago targeting nuclear sites necessary; any degrading actions favorable. Hope weakens regime for people to overtake.
Iran not rolling over; appointed Ayatollah's son, firing at region, possible ballistic missiles to Europe. Aggression not just response to attack; would have happened eventually. Cannot sleep on it. Unlike North Korea (survival-focused, responds to deterrence), Iran has theocratic dream of afterlife rewards for mass destruction on infidels. Far greater risk than North Korea.
Canada's superpower: unblock resources to tidewater, strategic reserve to flex energy muscles, reduce dependence on Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela.
Prime Minister supported attack; Poilievre agrees, distinct from sending soldiers/sailors/air crew. Not proposing ground troops to Iran; not positioned to supply conflict demands. Depends on ask.
Iranians won't roll over easily; Trump doesn't take ego hits, won't unravel or pull out easily; possible doubling down with troops. Could go variety of ways: GHW Bush penalized Saddam enough after Kuwait invasion, declared victory, moved on (stability); GW Bush full regime change (longer). Objective: prevent Iranian long/medium-range nuclear missiles, including to Israel. Iranian people to rise up; regime lacks popular support. Many secular pro-Western Persians in Canada report no support for regime. Deserve democracy.
Focus on core objective: no nuclear-armed Iran without permanent quagmire. Fordo bombed; pull out if intelligence shows nuclear capacity degraded.
Hitting gas prices hard, but shouldn't concern Canadians due to oil supply. Normally, rising global oil prices strengthen Canadian dollar (buyers need CAD), increasing buying power for imported oil/food. No longer, as sector share shrunk. Unleash oil production: clear regulatory bureaucracy, government gatekeepers, industrial carbon taxes; stronger dollar for affordability and geostrategic power.
Significant chance Poilievre next leader; needs productive US relationship. Trump ineligible if following law; different leader likely, unless no-confidence vote. Never met or spoken to Trump. One PM at a time; avoid dividing Canadian side during trade deal review. Focus on controllables: unlock resources, strategic mineral reserve, export goods overseas, alliances with UK, New Zealand, Australia for self-sufficiency.
Unlock and clear the way: remove bureaucratic obstacles. Resources massively profitable for private sector to mine/refine/store/ship with permits and low taxes. Enable private investment, no subsidies/handouts.
Not undermining negotiations with foreign country; oppose on domestic/international issues without harming national interest. On Joe Rogan (global audience), wouldn't criticize Canadian leader unless in Canada. Good principle during border trade dispute; put country above self for best outcome.
Mission: make Canada most affordable, freest, richest country. Grew up humble beginnings, surrounded by working-class people: electricians, oil workers, police officers. Admires them, feels they are taken advantage of by government, excluded from decisions. Mission: reinstate promise of Canada—anyone can achieve anything, e.g., adopted kid by teachers, poor immigrant from Botswana, buy house, launch business, become podcaster, cure disease.
Old photo with dad, mother (school teachers), half-brother Patrick (same biological mother, different fathers, adopted into same family). Biological mother put Poilievre up for adoption at 16; 3 years later had Patrick, adopted by same parents. Remember picking up Patrick: phone call about half-brother, went to building with rows of babies, picked him up. Thought babies came from a store. Grew up working-class neighborhoods. At age 3-4, lost everything to high interest rates: mother's two rental properties, home; borrowed from grandfather for down payment. Dad drove old mobile falling apart.
First met at 21-22. Adopted mother gracious; wouldn't meet without her permission—she did raising, hardships, hockey practice, food. She said yes, as she won't always be there, wants him to have a mother. And I thought that was
A mother's decision to give up her child for adoption is a profound act, transcending personal identity. Pierre Poilievre recalls meeting a woman who made this selfless choice for his biological mother, inspiring him in politics.
Met biological mother at age 21-22 on a road trip from Ottawa to Montreal. She asked about his life; he inquired about biological family, her father (a great Irishman), and circumstances of his conception and birth. Understood her decision: she was 16, had lost her mother to a heart attack, lacked means, chose adoption for better opportunities. No resentment.
Biological father works at a concrete plant in British Columbia; met him, described as a great father to subsequent children. Adoptive father Donald, a teacher, responsible for his way with words. Adoptive mother Marlene.
Parents Marlene and Donald divorced around grade five (age ~12). Traumatizing moment: father told him alone in car at local corner store. Earthshattering, unforgettable. Despite divorce, both were good parents who loved and provided greatly.
Donald raised in devout French Catholic household (hence French name), considered priesthood, genuinely loved Marlene but realized his orientation. Now has wonderful partner Ross; family close with them.
Hardships built character, preventing a predictable 'white picket fence' life. Gave superpower of non-judgment, loving people for who they are. Shakespeare's 'to thine own self be true.'
Mother Marlene injured as baby in car accident: fingers burned off, horrible hand scars. Father unbothered because she was at peace, never hid it. Lesson: be yourself, don't hide scars—'scars are the trophies of survival.' Donald lived unapologetically.
Marlene: feisty, short, forceful; taught pugnaciousness and fighting for needs. Argued a lot, forging political argumentation style. Wife (Venezuelan refugee) also strong, feisty, intelligent, with MacGyver-like skills despite starting with nothing. Blessed with strong women.
Mid-teens: injured back in football, bored. Mother attended local Conservative meetings (baking goods, volunteering); took him to one. Gave purpose; interned in used suit for little money, fully committed.
Read The Theory of Moral Sentiments alongside The Wealth of Nations (1776, father of capitalism, free market system).
Feudalism: lords/knights/aristocrats control land, serfs labor. Free enterprise: voluntary exchange (work for wages, product for payment, investment for interest). Guided by invisible hand via price signals, not state. Raises production/wages automatically.
Coffee Shop Example
Customer thanks barista; barista thanks back—both better off. Even corporations must convince buyers (e.g., 15-year-old kid).
Economic Impact
200-fold increase in growth vs. feudal era.
Wealth of Nations quote: 'not from the benevolence of the brewer, baker, butcher... but from his own self-interest.' Theory of Moral Sentiments explains fellow feeling: feel good seeing others succeed, bad seeing suffering. Explains charity, helping strangers.
Son's Anecdote
Son's first gift (toy to sister) made him ecstatic, running in circles—happier than recipient. Self-interest aligns with altruism. Accepts human dark side but explains intersection.
Socialists contradict: humans greedy in private sector, angelic in government. If man can't decide for self, can't for others. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Disperse power: bottom-up freedom, government only for what individuals can't do.
Current system not capitalism but socialism for the very rich: governments redistribute from working class to wealthy via interventions, causing record inequality.
Housing Example
Blocking home building with regulations limits supply, enriches mansion owners, prices out young/working class/newcomers.
Total buildable land in Canada = penny on map (10x land per person vs. next G7). Fewest homes per capita due to government (taxes, fees, bureaucracy > land/labor/lumber). More money to bureaucrats than carpenters/etc.
Second-slowest permits in OECD; development taxes now cash cows; sales taxes on new homes. Most expensive in G7 despite abundant land. Goal: fastest permits, tax-free building.
Stats
Need 450,000 new homes/year until 2035 for affordability (currently ~240,000). 100,000 unemployed construction workers, billions in ready investment, abundant land. Unlock with fast permits/low taxes.
No environmental/safety benefit. Post-WWII: instant permits, massive build for veterans—homes still stand. Keep codes (environmental, fire-safe) but approve subdivisions in <7 years.
Technology should make housing cheaper, but monetary inflation: money supply up 100% in 10 years vs. 13% housing. Bids up prices.
New money first to wealthy/financially connected (gov buys bonds at inflated prices). They spend before devaluation; trickles to working class after, destroying wages.
Impacts
Canada happiness: 5th to 25th (2015-now; 18th to 25th last year). Worst G7 food inflation (carbon tax on equipment/fertilizer, new fuel tax, plastic ban spoils food 5 days faster).
Eliminate taxes/fees/regulations. Money supply doubled (1.4T to 2.8T CAD in 10 years)—not costs up, money worth less. Create cash to fund deficits from big government.
Produce more food/energy/homes faster than cash creation.
Canada plateaued vs. US/OECD. Equals income: flat production = flat real wages last 10 years. Causes: blocked oil/gas, home building, high taxes.
Pro-development, fast permits, cut taxes on work/investment/building/energy → higher output/wages.
UK, EU, Germany (shut nuclear, anti-oil/gas → high energy costs, subsidies enrich wind/solar elites, jobs lost, now back to coal—no environmental gain).
Big government gives to politically powerful rich, takes from working class. Mission: small government, big people, meritocracy, free enterprise (businesses compete with higher wages/lower prices).
US strong relative to others.
Canada's 2025 GDP growth estimated at 1.7%, 2026 at 1.3%. United Kingdom lagging. Germany 2024 GDP growth 0.2%, hundreds of percentage points lower than United States, Canada, or UK. Problem with GDP growth in Canada, United States, United Kingdom relative to United States. United States doing something right if GDP growth is main measure.
Policies to learn from United States, Switzerland, Singapore. Switzerland: among wealthiest, best money, lowest inflation, almost no inflation, strong Swiss Franc better than euro or US dollar. Free enterprise, small government, government spending share of economy significantly lower than elsewhere in Western world outside Asia.
Singapore: wealthiest nation outside Gulf States despite no resources, imports water, transformed swampy mosquito-infested island with three struggling peoples into wealth hub. Free enterprise, low taxes, easy to start business, rewarded for hard work.
Singapore outperforms UK, Canada, USA in growth and per capita wealth as hub economy, riding global AI boom due to enabled entrepreneurship. Last year GDP growth more than double United States, left Canada, UK, Switzerland behind.
Lee Kuan Yew founded Singapore, created miracle, should be studied by every leader. Massive increase in quality of life with no resources except geography exploited as trading hub for Asia like modern-day Nabataeans.
Every economic policy has trade-offs. Socialism and capitalism both have trade-offs; be clear on them or they surprise you.
Leadership requires humility to let go of power and return it to people. No politician wants gravestone reading: "He stayed out of the way, left people alone so they could do great things without him." Better if more did.
Government has role: basic social safety net for less advantaged, ensuring healthcare, basic schooling, roads, infrastructure even if they can't afford it. Beyond basics, government metastasizes into other things not core responsibility; each dollar spent has less return, then negative return where more spending causes more damage. Canada beyond that point.
Decline in Canadian birth rates: fewer marriages, fewer births. How to run economy without new children without lots of immigrants?
Birth rate decline due to economic reasons. Cannot afford home, no place to raise children. In Canada, 35-year-olds living in parents' basements; hard to date or bring date home. High-achieving employed young people stuck in small apartments due to rent costs. Economic constraints prevent young people in late 20s/early 30s who want children from having them.
Western economies allowed immigration for low-wage jobs. Multinational corporations abused immigration to drive down wages. In Canada, government expanded international student and temporary foreign worker programs, allowing corporations to pay artificially low wages to people without mobility rights, driving down wages, displacing workers, ballooning housing costs.
Position: cap numbers, ensure economy, healthcare, housing grow faster than population at all times.
Capping numbers means corporations lack people, move elsewhere? No, Canada has unemployment. Multinationals don't want to pay full wages, undercut by bringing in workers from poor countries willing to work for less with fewer rights.
Unemployed Canadians trained/skilled for needed jobs: 100,000 unemployed construction workers could build needed homes; youth unemployment at 30-year high should get jobs. Starbucks claims they don't want jobs—pay enough to attract right workers.
Devil's advocate: Starbucks raises wages, increases coffee price? Unless find efficient ways, more competition allows workers more gain, consumers pay less; entrepreneur saves, operates efficiently. Magic of market: everyone drives most value for lowest cost.
Employers drive efficiencies with AI. Anthropic report two weeks ago shows job disruption based on tool usage; 14% increase in youth unemployment as entry-level white-collar jobs taken first.
As employer of hundreds worldwide, hiring entry-level grads tricky if not AI proficient; less appealing than AI-proficient young grads. AI-proficient person comes with 50 team members (AI agents). Example: young Cass built team of agents; hiring him gets Cass + team.
Workforce not trained in AI due to education system. Difficult to hire entry-level or others without deep domain expertise (then build AI agents). Example: CFO with 50 years finance expertise + AI agents replaces massive team needed 5 years ago.
People with deep domain expertise or technical skills in high demand. Others at risk as AI replaces via autonomous driving, robotics.
Historical scares: Industrial Revolution machines replaced muscular power; Luddites smashed machines, but got better jobs (e.g., tractors vs. plowing behind mule). Dot-com era: computers made people more productive, not jobless.
Is AI different? Nobody knows, but yes due to speed of disruption. Built on internet with global distribution. OpenClaw example: does anything on computer (e.g., clip most replayed podcast part, add subtitles, tweet/Slack it).
Personal anecdote: In hot Los Angeles house, told AI via WhatsApp to buy charcoal umbrella for outdoor work; it checked Google Maps, sized for table, ordered from Amazon, transacted with login details.
Speed of adoption staggering; near-term displacement before new jobs emerge. Robotics: Elon Musk predicts more humanoid robots than humans.
Musk's timelines sometimes off, but delivered on spaceships landing on chopsticks, self-driving cars.
Tech will change world for better, but concern for economies/countries not taking seriously, distracted by race baiting, immigration ("brown people problem"). Real alien: AI agents taking jobs.
Basic human need: meaning/purpose. Guide tech revolution to empower people with meaning.
John Adams: "My father studied warfare so I would have security to study commerce. I study commerce so my children have prosperity to study arts."
New systems could allow focus on loved meaningful activities while supplying material needs—positive. Or strip utility, leave without work—dangerous.
Public policy: ensure AI enables humanity, not replaces it.
2029 election interesting if AI/robotics forecasts true. Counteract job disruption? Sam Altman (OpenAI/ChatGPT co-founder) supports universal basic income via WorldCoin (retina scan to validate humans for wealth distribution).
Elon Musk: age of abundance, working optional; don't train as surgeon—AI surgeons better in years.
Smart people have incentives/narratives for fundraising, but if right, future different.
Principles: AI enables/empowers people for more decisions, freedom, pursue meaning—not replace, cause lost purpose.
Great if minimum wage worker has personal assistant/chauffeur vehicle, freeing time from drudgery (traffic, sweeping) for thrilling things.
Ensure ability to work/contribute for meaning. As tech lowers costs, pass savings to people, not inflate away. Goal: lower cost of living, make dollars go further (hasn't happened in generations). Produce more for less, working-class benefits.
Concern if wealth accrues to big companies/Elon (world's first trillionaire, not last). Job disruption may need government intervention? Nobody knows; Paul Krugman (Nobel economist) predicted internet no more impactful than fax machine.
Guiding principles: rules give people more agency, meaning, control—not less.
Political discourse focuses on immigration across West (UK, Trump on southern border "rapists/murderers"). Weaponized divisive tool complaining about brown people/foreigners?
Canadian experience: 200 years most successful system; US Republicans/Democrats wanted to study it. Points system measured labor market fit, integration. People integrated, intermarried (speaker's wife refugee from Venezuela, common story).
Sudden inexplicable increase 2021-2024 out of line with housing/healthcare/jobs absorption, upsetting 200-year social peace. Now all political spectrum agree went too far too fast.
Approach: lawful system, legal entry in absorbable numbers for integration into jobs/society/way of life. Population cannot grow faster than housing (run out of homes) or jobs (run out of paychecks). Controlled, orderly, compassionate, common sense.
US different: decades of southern border chaos; Canada had steady 1% population immigration for 200 years, uncontroversial until spike benefiting wealthy landlords/employers driving wages down/rents up.
If no replacement rate recovery, rely on more immigration for GDP? Economic immigration of high-skilled people always successful, no resentment.
When immigrants arrive, must fulfill potential. Gatekeepers block immigrant professionals. 20,000 immigrant doctors, 32,000 immigrant nurses can't work due to 8-9 year bureaucratic licensing.
Anecdote: Eye surgery technician flies to UAE for 10 days/month doing surgeries, back in Ottawa only as technician. UAE more technologically advanced than Canada; eyeballs same.
Immigrants in Canada historically more educated than Canadian-born.
Pierre Poilievre wants to fix the licensing system that shuts out skilled immigrants despite their credentials. Implement a merit-based test to get them into high-paying jobs to strengthen the economy.
Stanley, from Stanto (investor), uses AI to analyze your feed, tone, history, best posts, suggests and generates posts, or provides inspiration to overcome posting paralysis due to psychological barriers.
Search coach.stand.store to get started. Building an audience changed my life.
Ketone IQ (ketone.com/stephven for 30% off, free gift on second shipment) is a game changer for 35-40% of team. Co-owner after trying it; boosted focus, energy, productivity. Now at Target stores (first shot free).
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China depends on its choices. Spectacular civilization that can contribute to world harmony through trade and collaboration, or become biggest risk via aggressive approach: technology for espionage, interference (as in Canada), invading Taiwan.
Book Thucydides Trap by Professor Allison: analyzed 20 historical cases of incumbent superpower challenged by rising power; majority ended in war, but avoidable. Plan: make Beijing see interest in community of nations, free trade, partnership over enmity.
US pursuing change in Venezuela, Iran, Cuba (Beijing's realm of influence). That's the real driver behind visible wars.
Canada decided 40-50 years ago not to pursue nuclear arms despite nuclear power and uranium. No need; no desire to threaten. No purpose now.
Canada is a warrior nation: entered World Wars two years before Americans. Like a golden retriever: friendly but fights back if provoked.
Building up military due to consensus on insufficient protection from hostile incursions. Assert sovereignty over Arctic archipelago (hard to populate) via military presence: if you don't use it, you lose it.
Want to make own decisions without relying on Americans, who may not be as collaborative. Be masters in our own home (maîtres chez nous in Quebec). Cannot solely rely on US despite historic friendly relations since early 1800s.
Canada: second biggest country, longest oceanic coastline (longer than Russia). Requires massive military buildup.
In part: Trump threatened to make Canada 51st state (never happening). Canadians react badly; won't be part of US. Americans are top trading partner, closest ally.
History has made us friends, economics has made us partners. Geography has made us neighbors and necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature have thus joined together, let no man put asunder. — President Kennedy
Americans fond of Canada as sovereign neighbor with unique interests.
Poilievre leading polls until last moment (weighted average graph). Support didn't drop much; other parties collapsed behind Liberals due to Canada-US issues (Trump threats, tariffs).
Conservatives got biggest vote count ever, highest share since 1988. Build on base for next election.
Slight drop. Focused on domestic issues (doubling housing costs, rising crime, inflation) and solutions, but overshadowed by tariffs and Trump state threat. Shift to external factors helps incumbent (Mark Carney), hurts challenger.
Roller coaster; no time to feel during, emotions delayed until after. Photo with family post-election.
Leadership started 2022 post-COVID; people vested hope after losing control of lives.
- Young people: "You have to win because I want to start a family and I can't in this economy."
- Mothers: "We just can't afford food anymore."
- Police: "I've arrested the same guy four times this week and he keeps getting released."
A homeless woman at rally borrowed $8 for $15 membership (had $7, lives in car): "This is my only hope."
Felt terrible for not delivering.
Didn't dwell; got back at it. Focus on what you can control (stoic approach) for mental health and output. Zero in on controllables.
Won't speculate or make excuses; own the result. People voted. Be at peace; avoid what-ifs.
Butterfly effects/dominoes change history, but focus on controllables.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: highly readable.
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. — Marcus Aurelius
Expect but don't be controlled by externals. Focus on controllables makes you the actor, not acted upon; driver of your life, not victim.
Invictus poem (Nelson Mandela recited in prison): "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."
Core principles consistent. Won $10,000 essay contest at 20 explaining PM plans (check shown, uncashed prop).
Although we Canadians seldom recognize it, the most important guardian of our living standards is freedom. Freedom to earn a living and share the fruits of our labor with loved ones. The freedom to build personal prosperity through risk-taking and strong work ethic. The freedom of thought and speech. The freedom to make personal choices and the collective freedom of citizens to govern their own affairs democratically. Government's job is to constantly find ways to remove itself from obstructing such freedoms.
Human beings are graced with the gifts of creativity, wisdom, and ingenuity. The best way for a society to go about improving its living standards is to allow citizens to apply these qualities to the challenges of everyday life. Asking a prime minister to single-handedly improve the living standards of 30 million of the world's brightest is as about as realistic as asking him to take to an Olympic sprinting track to help a lineup of world-class athletes reach the finish line. The more the government becomes involved in the race, the greater the number of hurdles competitors will encounter.
Therefore, as prime minister, what I would do to improve living standards is not as nearly as important as what I would not do. As prime minister, I would relinquish to citizens as much of my social, political, and economic control as possible, leaving people to cultivate their own personal prosperity and to govern their own affairs as directly as possible.
Temperament matured: fatherhood (wife, kids) built patience, compromise; spills into politics. More careful, thoughtful than late 20s/early 30s.
Based on both conservatives opposing wokeism and DEI; not unique to Trump.
Liberals used to believe in liberty, conservatives in conserving it (gas pedal vs. brake, same direction). Wokeism is illiberal: opposite of color-blind traditional liberalism (total equality regardless of gender, sexuality, race).
Accentuates differences, groups by race/gender, expands state control. Believe in treating individuals, judging on merits (prior consensus).
Host (black man from Botswana to UK): Aware of funding disadvantages for black entrepreneurs/women. Wants fair shot for all, but notes self-fulfilling feel of special treatment; also believes systemic issues hold groups back.
Poilievre: Strict equality and equal treatment regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion. Meritocracy that is color-blind, judges on what people can do. Get back to that for everyone to achieve on merit.
People aren't color blind. Poilievre's dad said, "Everybody's prejudice." As a child, Poilievre wondered if his white dad was racist, but later realized prejudice helped humans survive by distinguishing danger. Prejudice is prevalent in society. Institutions must judge people on merit and ensure everyone, regardless of background, has a chance to succeed, get jobs, promotions, and advance.
This isn't achieved by dividing people into groups based on race and gender, building barriers. Instead, remove barriers. Wokeism divides people, opposite to goals of racial equality, personal freedom, and responsibility.
Host cites studies: job applications with typically white names get higher response rates than typically black names.
Poilievre: Government creates barriers. Examples:
- Anti-housing policies impact minorities and disadvantaged more, as newcomers or poorer backgrounds lack houses and pay highest prices for unaffordable housing.
- Occupational licensing blocks qualified immigrants from professions.
- Soft-on-crime policies, sold to help minorities by lowering convictions, instead harm law-abiding people in minority communities from criminals of all backgrounds.
Government policies cause disadvantaged to suffer more. Wokeism accentuates problems. Solution: free market, free enterprise economy with free people and free speech gives everyone better chances.
Host: In the West (Canada), black mortgage applicants up to 200% more likely denied than white applicants with similar financial profiles.
Poilievre: Hadn't seen data, but sounds like stupid bankers denying business. DEI aims to correct prejudice and stupid decisions, but DEI has been in place decades and statistics show it's not working—may do other things.
Valentina, 7 years old, non-verbal, autistic on the spectrum. Challenges communicating verbally, making encouraging progress. Very acrobatic, rambunctious, loves climbing, swinging, bouncing, jumping. Extremely affectionate, 100% authentic—no manipulation or acts. Indicates exactly how she feels. Blessed with brother Cruz who adores her, treats her best.
Parents build nest egg for her if she can't earn income. Forge deep bond with brother Cruz, who says, "My job is to protect Valentina from bad guys." They're in same class at school; he's her protector. Believe he'll be there for her long-term.
Reinforces compassion for those who can't provide for themselves. Government should be limited but help genuinely needy, like people with disabilities. Recognize inherent worth of every individual—people with disabilities can contribute. Unlock potential in every human.
Passionate about policies enabling work opportunities for disabled, even limited. Design programs so cash/medication support isn't lost when they get a job.
Seeing someone different triggers compassion, like seeing daughter. Wife spots potentially autistic people, talks to them, makes them feel loved. Compassion means feeling what others feel, heightened with loved one who shares experience.
Wife discerned differences early: little eye contact, not communicative even as baby, no reciprocal communication. Diagnosis unsurprising; focused on action: speech therapist, play structures (bouncy castle, trampoline, building blocks).
Advice: Focus on what you control. Enjoy special things—they're magical, wonderful. Valentina fun, loves jumping, fearless daredevil, climbs on shoulders, loves running with her on shoulders.
Autism: autotapping on sensations others can't appreciate; minor irritants drive her crazy. Meltdowns from horrific sensations we can't understand—not bad kid. Embrace it all. Extra work, but rewarding. She makes everyone smile, popular at school, kids sweet to her, boy has crush.
Affectionate: sat on lap of stranger (little old lady) at fall fair.
Optimistic about future. Canada has most resources, diverse educated population, most fresh water, second biggest land mass. Future belongs to Canada—if we do right things. Would help if Poilievre prime minister.
Host loves Canada, felt at home in Toronto first time—Brits and Canadians share much, including king. Plans tour.
Personal: Something happening to kids—hear terrible news, attended funeral for mass shooting victims in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.
For Canada: Blocking own potential, declining, opportunity vanishes, losing promise to generations—like frog in boiling water, slowly warmer unnoticed. Current trajectory, but reversible with big direction changes.
For Western world: Not staying true to foundational principles from Magna Carta—freedom, government servant to people as masters. Free democracies succeed at home, work together abroad to preserve civilization.
Host appreciates direct answers—politicians usually slippery. Poilievre transparent, team set no limits or edits. More politicians should follow.
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