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WARMINGTON: Coverage of supposed Pierre Poilievre-Jamil Jivani rift unfair

Media didn’t accurately report on what Opposition leader said about Conservative MP’s trip to Washington

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It’s like they didn’t care what Pierre Poilievre’s words actually were. They were going to decide what he said, even though he actually didn’t say it.

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Many in the media didn’t accurately report on what the Opposition leader said about Conservative MP Jamil Jivani’s trip to Washington, D.C. They seemed to report, perhaps, what they wanted him to say.

WARMINGTON: Coverage of supposed Pierre Poilievre-Jamil Jivani rift unfair Back to video

If you based your opinion on the way some in the media in Ottawa reported on what Poilievre said in his Tuesday scrum, you might come to the conclusion that he set Jivani straight, distanced himself from him and made it clear he didn’t support the effort to go down to the U.S. earlier this month to talk about trade with American leaders.

“Poilievre disagrees with Conservative MP’s ‘anti-American hissy fit comments,'” was what it said on the CBC’s website.

“Pierre Poilievre distances himself from Jamil Jivani’s critical comments about Canada,” was what the Toronto Star had.

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“The post-Poilievre leadership race has begun,” said the headline in The Globe and Mail.

Poilievre did not turn on Jivani

The narrative across the media landscape was one of Poilievre turning on his MP to perhaps sow more dissent amongst the ranks. Yet if you listened to the full scrum, that is not really what Poilievre did. In fact, one could actually frame it that the leader was backing his MP.

It’s misleading. He certainly didn’t toss Jivani to the wolves.

While he said “no” about his views on Jivani’s comments on a Breitbart podcast that some in Canada have thrown an “anti-American hissy fit,” Poilievre said his view is “Canadians are legitimately upset by the unjustifiable tariffs and comments that the president has made,” and “you know, as the prime minister has said, nobody can control Donald Trump. As Mr. Harper said, we have to focus not on how the president’s words and deeds make us feel, but on what we can do to adapt.”

On Breitbart, Jivani was quoting saying, “We are shooting ourselves in the foot if we continue this anti-America hissy fit and this is the reason I’m trying to talk into our government and some of the Liberals who have just gone way off the reservation on this.”

While he said he spoke to Jivani about his trip, Poilievre did not convey to reporters what was said in that discussion. When he was asked if Jivani was “muddling the message,” the leader said “he speaks for himself and I speak for the party.”

Poilievre says MPs can ‘stand up’ for Canada

But Poilievre went a step further, saying Jivani represents Bowmanville—Oshawa North, which has been “disproportionally impacted” by the tariff war that has contributed to the loss of 1,200 auto jobs in Oshawa.

“I think that it’s necessary for all MPs to use all the connections and work that they can in order to overturn the tariffs and protect Canadian jobs,” said Poilievre. “I encourage all MPs to fight the tariffs and stand up for Canada.”

In other words, at no point did Poilievre throw his fellow Conservative under the bus. In fact, he said he encouraged his elected caucus to “fight” for their constituents.

Why was the media doing this? Why not just report what the man said as he said it?

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani is photographed in his office in Ottawa during an interview with National Post on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Hyungcheol Park for Postmedia)

Media piling on amid floor-crossing chaos

Things became clearer later Wednesday when word broke that Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux had decided to cross the floor and join Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals.

It felt like a piling on of Poilievre and the way the story was spun there were sentiments reported that didn’t match what he was articulating.

Equally reprehensible is how Jivani has been treated in general. It’s interesting how many people are cancelled for their thoughts, but some politicos are free to belittle the appearance of this man with African heritage, who has battled cancer. Some have called him a traitor and mocked him for his friendship with U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance, a Yale Law School classmate.

No one else in Canadian politics would be, or should be, treated the way he has been treated. And he can meet with and talk to anybody he wants to. He’s a free citizen and an elected representative.

While there is great debate permitted on Jivani’s trip and the success or lack of success of it, when the narrative is already decided, it makes one wonder why certain reporters, columnists and editors are not honest with their audience and that they constructed a story instead of accurately reporting on it.

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