Why the Conservatives and NDP are headed for a clash over Canada’s working-class votes [Video]

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s path to power may be by prosecuting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s past eight years in government, but his road to victory is painted NDP orange.

Appealing to working-class voters in rural and northern ridings — like those held by New Democrats across British Columbia and Liberals in northern Ontario — is part of what Poilievre sees as a winning formula.

That offensive was on full display on Vancouver Island recently as he traversed NDP turf, rallying supporters in Nanaimo and snapping photos with mill workers in Port Alberni. He also stopped at a steel plant and port in B.C.’s Lower Mainland to rub shoulders with workers, images of which lit up his social media.

“We’re seeing Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative party, on the floor of shops and factories,” said Allie Blades, a strategist who worked on his 2022 leadership campaign in B.C.

Blades, …