Some amount of conflict is inherent to democracy — particularly so in a political system that prominently features His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. And hyperbole has probably existed for as long as humans have been able to communicate.
But has any Canadian politician in recent memory embraced rhetorical conflict as enthusiastically as Pierre Poilievre?
For the Conservative leader, there seems to be no such thing as overstatement. And he seems to feel it’s almost always worth going on the attack.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference on Parliament Hill in August, he used the word “disastrous” multiple times. He said Chrystia Freeland was “incompetent and discredited” and deemed her “Canada’s worst ever finance minister.” He said Housing Minister Sean Fraser — whom Poilievre described previously as “the worst immigration minister in Canadian history” — had “destroyed” the immigration system in his previous portfolio. He called Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault “crazy.”
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