Don Martin: Poilievre picking wrong fights as Liberals struggle under low morale, support

In Justin Trudeau’s rapidly imploding world, everything sucks.

In a rare moment of reality-reflecting candour, the usually-scripted prime minister said as much to the New York Times last week.

“It really sucks right now. Like, everything sucks for people, even in Canada,” he told the editorial board. “People are mad . . . it’s a tough time . . . a sense of optimism is gone right now.”

Add in this week’s global fallout from the Liberal MP and Speaker who led the standing ovation for a former Nazi in the House of Commons and these are indeed the giddiest of times for Canadian opposition leaders.

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Which is why Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre could’ve and should’ve done better this week at hitting numerous barn-sized targets on Trudeau’s forehead.

Affordability issues have driven the Conservatives into a double-digit polling lead in every region in every demographic. Inflation and the high cost of living were the focus of a summer ad campaign, which worked spectacularly well.

But polling momentum won’t build and the leader’s image won’t polish if Poilievre’s preoccupation remains on issues like his ongoing attack on Trudeau being away from the Commons for four of five days this week. Nobody cares in the real world.

Or on insisting the prime minister should’ve ordered a security background check on every invited guest in the House for the Ukrainian president’s visit. That may seem reasonable to a protégé of the control-freakish Harper era, but it isn’t within the PMO’s responsibility.

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Or on whether Trudeau’s (late) apology should’ve been on behalf of his government, or himself (both), instead of parliamentarians.

And Poilievre certainly didn’t need to fall for the Trudeau bait on the contentious trans youth debate by tweeting his parents-know-best reaction to the prime minister’s simple we-value-everybody social media post.

The sheer volume of issues just this week where Conservatives could gain swing votes was too juicy to ignore.

We are just one week from Thanksgiving, the stated government deadline for grocery store chains to plan price stability at the checkout, and it's crickets from the executive suites.

There’s a billion-dollar spending cut aimed at the military, a travesty for the under-armed forces, which will unhinge furious allies viewing Canada as a defence freeloader, that is crying out for a furious government shaming.

This week’s warning from oh-so-credible former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge – that the Liberals are finally out of deficit-spending runway – deserved a lot more question period airtime.

Then there’s the government’s amended competition bill, released without adequate consultation, now attracting the ire of business leaders who warn it will scare away investment and actually reduce competition.

And the bonus for the Conservative’s popular axe-the-tax position was having the Canadian Climate Institute release its finding that emissions rose 2.1 per cent in 2022, despite Trudeau’s carbon pricing.

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect storm for opposition forces to take on, if not take down, a freefalling Liberal government.

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Trudeau’s sunny ways have been eclipsed by so many dark shadows as to create a world that’s unrecognizable from his 2015 swearing-in as prime minister.

But Poilievre must still beat down the perception that he is a tiny-fisted ball of hate who sees everyone outside his narrow political bandwidth as an enemy to be ridiculed and crushed.

By fixating blame on Trudeau for events beyond his control like the Nazi mess, Poilievre caters to an image that is the opposite of prime ministerial.

The government he officially opposes has become a giant sucking sound as its credibility, morale and re-election chances gurgle down the drain.

All Pierre Poilievre needs to do to win the next election is make sure the drain doesn’t get plugged up with doubts about his leadership or extreme ideological gunk.

That’s the bottom line.