Canada’s Conservative leader needs to make inroads with Trump. Is it too late? 

Why Pierre Poilievre has few friends in and around the White House.

On Parliament Hill, Canada's Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made cost-of-living concerns his signature issue. | Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images

OTTAWA — In the fall of 2024, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, held a commanding lead in the polls and looked set to be the next prime minister. After Donald Trump’s election that November, allies of Poilievre advised him to visit Washington and show he could engage with Trump. Poilievre refused, insisting that cost-of-living politics mattered more.

It was a disastrous miscalculation: Backlash against Trump and his trade agenda upended Canadian politics, crushing Poilievre’s lead and even costing him his seat in Parliament.

Now, as Poilievre prepares for another election, he is finally trying to break into Trump’s Washington. The problem is, many Republicans have already written him off.

© Politico