COLUMN: Viewpoint – Unwrapping Pierre Poilievre’s rhetoric

“After 10 years of Liberal rule Canada is more costly, and crime-ridden, dangerous, and dependent, and divided than ever before.”

Pierre Poilievre made that claim in his speech at the recent Conservative convention. It’s a scathing critique of the Liberals and paints a bleak and scary picture of our country. Are Mr. Poilievre’s claims true? I decided to find out, and perhaps, garner some perspective on his assertions.

While Canada is a costly country to live in, we need to keep in mind that it ranks only 22nd in the world as the most expensive place to make your home. It is true that some 60 percent of Canadians are worried about the current cost of living. But interestingly, I found that in 2015, as 10 years of the Conservative Stephen Harper government ended, 60 percent of Canadians were also worried about the cost of living. Not much has changed, even though the political party running the country has.

I could find no proof that crime is worse than it has ever been. Although statistics aren’t in yet for 2025, crime was down by 5.67 percent for 2024 according to the Government of Canada website and the severity of crimes committed down by 4.1 percent. Homicides and violent crimes in Canada reached an all-time high in 1975 and have plummeted 40 percent since then.

Is Canada dangerous? It consistently ranks as one of the top five countries in the world when it comes to safety. Our American neighbours by comparison, usually rate from 131-163 on the safety scale. According to the Global Peace Index Canada stands 14th out of 163 countries and is the most peaceful of the North American countries.

There is no doubt Canada has become far too economically dependent on our American neighbours. If you research how that dependence began, historians will confirm the primary event that instigated it was the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiated by Conservative Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney in 1989. Mr. Carney, the Liberal leader, is trying to walk us back from the economic dependence Mr. Mulroney trigged, by using his impressive international credentials and influence to diversify and expand our number of trading partners worldwide. Hopefully he will be successful.

Canadians are divided politically. However, University of British Columbia professors Emily Huddart and Tony Silva have completed a research project showing that while Canadians are not immune to partisan political animosity, our divisions are not nearly as intense as those in America. While factions in both Alberta and Quebec are lobbying for independence, polls show that the majority of citizens in both provinces would not vote to separate from Canada if referendums were held.

And divisions are not worse than they have ever been. Many of us remember the FLQ crisis in 1970 when the separatist leaders in Quebec kidnapped and killed a cabinet minister and the Prime Minister had to implement the War Measures Act. Things are not nearly at that level now.

However, we would still do well to heed the words of Mr. Harper, who gave a speech in Ottawa last week. He stressed the importance of people of every political stripe working together for the good of Canada at this challenging time. Unity, not division, was his advice.

I think perhaps Mr. Poilievre wasn’t being entirely truthful when he stated Canada is more costly, crime-ridden, dangerous, dependent, and divided than ever before, thanks to the Liberals. I’d suggest rhetoric of that ilk does not promote the unity Mr. Harper is encouraging and does little to inspire and give hope to Canadians at a time when it is so desperately needed.