COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – A decisive win – a united party

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre secured a strong mandate with an impressive 87.4 percent support at this weekend’s Conservative convention in Calgary, Alberta. A poignant reference was made by Mr. Poilievre when choked with emotion he talked about the meaning of hope and when his autistic daughter (Valentina) spoke for the first time. The comment aligned with the convention’s theme of hope, which he compared to Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, quoting its premise that “meaning is the thing that keeps people fighting on through hardship.” Poilievre added that “meaning” could differ from person to person—a career, a home, a family, a business.

For the leader of the Conservatives, highlighting Valentina’s milestone, along with his son’s cut-out Spider-Man, which he brings along on the road, are illustrations of what gives him meaning. Answering his own question about why he does what he does, Pierre simply said, “Because we want our kids to have the same Canadian promise that we had.” He explained that starting something means not giving up because when we care about something, we fight for it.

While cheering on a young man named Kirk, a successful business owner of Probiotic Sodas in recovery from addiction, Mr. Poilievre grieved how bad Liberal policies of the last ten years led to the loss of 50,000 lives. Addressing people struggling with addiction, Poilievre stated, “I’m not here because you need me. I’m here because, frankly, I need you. Canada has a job for you. You need to get better and go out and pull the next guy off the street. And he’s going to come in and get better, and he’ll go back out and pull the next guy off the street, and we’re going to keep doing that again and again until every last one of our brothers and sisters is back on their feet.”

Reflecting on his early years in Calgary, Pierre recalled the Canadian promise as an assumed social contract — that people could start from anywhere, work hard, and get anywhere. People lived a hopeful life in a safe home, at a full table, in a loving family dynamic, under a united flag. He contended that “working hard, spending less, following the rules” no longer has the same return. Canadians simply can’t afford life under this Liberal government, especially when the biggest item in family budgets—more than food, clothing and shelter combined- is taxes.

Liberals told Canadians that doubling the debt would increase investment. To the contrary, Canadian citizens are now opening more businesses in the United States than they are in Canada. After 10 years of this Liberal government, Canada is more costly, crime-ridden, dangerous, dependent, and divided than ever before.

During the last election, Canadians were promised by Prime Minister Mark Carney that things would be different. He promised to spend less, but instead he has doubled the deficit he inherited to $90 billion. He said a country that cannot feed itself has few options—and here we are leading the G-7 with the highest food inflation, with the average food budget costing a Canadian family $17,600 in 2026. We were promised that we would “build, baby, build,” and all we have seen is “block, baby, block.”

Mr. Poilievre spoke about “common extraordinary Canadians” being back in charge of their lives. To start, ending the capital gains tax on reinvestment in Canada would alone potentially bring home the half-trillion dollars of investment that has fled south. It would act as “economic rocket fuel for startups, high tech, and major job-creating projects.” Poilievre also reiterated our need to eliminate anti-development laws such as Bill C-69 and C-48, and to replace them with new quick-approval laws that expand energy exports off Canada’s west coast. A pipeline to the Pacific would be capable of transporting up to a million barrels a day and generating up to $30 billion annually. Such a move would translate to being “the single biggest increase to overseas exports in Canadian history.” Additionally, Pierre noted that removing the industrial carbon tax would allow us to produce more steel and aluminum.

A Conservative action plan led by Pierre Poilievre would offer immediate hope for our economy, our youth, our seniors, and all Canadians!

Conservatives are listening. We know that a house divided cannot stand; we need to unite this country. Conservatives see separatist movements in resurgence, unlike during the Harper years. In response, we could attack people for how they feel—or we could ask them why they feel this way.

“For the last 10 years,” Poilievre said, “Ottawa has told our young people that our history is filled with shame and horror, that we are a post-national country with no core identity, and that our youth will never own homes.”

Conservatives, Poilievre argues, is that we are responding with hope. As he stated, “Our message to those youth and to all of the people in Alberta and Quebec who are losing hope in our country: you will again have a country that respects your autonomy, is proud of your industries, unites us around our common identity and history, a country that will afford you the hopeful future that you have earned.”