The Americas | Canada’s rising populist

Canada’s Conservatives are crushing Justin Trudeau

Pierre Poilievre is even winning over the young and the unionised

Photograph: Courtesy Pierre Poilievre
|OTTAWA

“How is my life better?” demands Kareem Lewis, a 32-year-old Canadian software engineer, after almost a decade of Liberal government. “Real wages are flat. The cost of rent as a proportion of your income has increased,” he says. And forget about buying a house. Fed up, he has moved to New York. Always a Liberal backer, he will vote Conservative in the election due next year. Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, is attracting other unlikely voters, too. He has spent much of the summer in factories from British Columbia to Newfoundland, surrounded by employees in hard hats and safety glasses, to cement his lead among working-class voters.

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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The Conservative uplift”

From the August 31st 2024 edition

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