Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre during a recent campaign event. Photo courtesy Pierre Poilievre/X.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is having a hard time challenging the public perception that he is US President Donald Trump’s mirror image this federal election. The person most responsible for bolstering that Trumpian resemblance is Poilievre himself.

Before Trump retook office in January, Poilievre was known to sing the president’s praises, including on a Jordan Peterson podcast three months ago in which the Conservative leader acclaimed Trump as a “highly successful businessman” and vowed to emulate his governing style by “putting Canada first.” Poilievre’s constant references to border security and “woke ideology,” his tough-on-crime brand, his promise to slash public employment, his false claim that anti-genocide activists are leading “hate marches” on Canadian streets, not to mention his threat to “deport foreigners” who protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza, all seem consciously designed to mimic Trumpian rhetoric in an effort to replicate the electoral success of Trump 2.0.

Will Poilievre’s continued allegiance to Trump-style politics win him the election? That remains to be seen, but Trump’s threats of economic sabotage and annexation against Canada have largely soured voters on the US administration, and at least temporarily made Poilievre’s brand a liability.

After maintaining a dominant polling lead for several months, the Conservatives lost momentum following Trump’s aggression toward Canada and the Liberal Party’s dumping of the widely disliked Justin Trudeau.........

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