I analyzed two years of Pierre Poilievre speeches and videos
Here’s what they reveal about communicating with Canadians today.
While the polls may have softened a touch this week, the numbers still indicate that Pierre Poilievre will be the next elected Prime Minister of Canada. If you’re in Canada, you’ve no doubt watched his rise over the last three years with interest. If you’re not Canadian, I’m guessing you’ve heard of him — his appearances on podcasts like Jordan Peterson’s have made him of interest to international audiences.
His rise to Conservative leadership, and now his likely path to the prime minister’s office, has been built on a relentless, disciplined messaging strategy that taps into something deep in the Canadian psyche. While many political observers focus on his policies, the real key to his success is how he speaks, how he frames issues, and how he makes complex ideas feel simple.
This week, a client asked me a question that made me pause:
📌 How should organizations change their messaging in a Poilievre-led Canada?
My first instinct was to say, “Your DEI focus isn’t going to work anymore.” But that was just a gut response. And I don’t like giving advice on gut feel.
So, with the help of my friend Faisal at Interstellar Labs, we built a tool to analyze 65 of Poilievre’s speeches and videos over two years. What I found was staggeringly consistent—a messaging playbook that has helped him reshape Canadian politics.
First, a quick note on my source material. Faisal and I pulled together 65 videos covering a two-year period. I focused on videos in which Pierre Poilievre is either giving a speech, or explaining his policy positions. My goal was simple: I want to understand the language choices he makes when communicating with Canadians.
That’s because he has proven to be an extremely effective communicator. His message recruited many first-time voters to his cause, many of them buying Conservative Party memberships so they could vote for him as the new leader in 2022. He won on the first ballot thanks to a massive, commanding lead that these new party members gave him. He got there because his message felt fresh, new, and different than what voters had become accustomed to. His style has appeal to a large number of Canadians. Yet he turns off others, especially the Laurentian Elites who do not understand his appeal. But that is a deliberate and calculated choice he has made. It’s fine to piss off the Laurentian Elites if it helps reach your actual supporters.
Let’s see if we can explain his communications style, and in the process, learn what it takes to communicate effectively with Canadians right now.
The Core Themes
While Poilievre may be in the middle of a messaging pivot to reflect Canadians’ sudden rally around the flag, thanks to Trump’s tariff threats, the fundamentals of what has driven a massive revolt away from Trudeau and an embrace of Poilievre, especially from many newly engaged Canadians, is clear in the core themes Poilievre focuses on:
Canada First: Prioritizing Canadian interests and sovereignty in all policy decisions. This includes prioritizing Canadian interests in trade, as well as rebuilding national pride and identity.
Economic Prosperity: Focusing on tax cuts, reduced regulations, and resource development to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. Sub themes include:
Axe the Tax. This was obviously constantly presented as a key policy idea in the last two years. It’s been impossible to get through a Poilievre speech without hearing this slogan, until recently.
Build the Homes. A simple refrain to address housing affordability and supply.
Fix the Budget. A simple construct for talking about fiscal responsibility, reducing deficits, and government waste.
Bring Home Production. A clear way to talk about creating jobs and incentivizing domestic production.
Economic Prosperity is the most frequent theme that Poilievre speaks to. Not a surprise given his regular focus on tax cuts, housing, jobs, and affordability.
“We're going to bring home the country we knew and love. We're going to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Most of all, we are going to put our country first. This will be a country where hard work pays off, where anyone from anywhere can do anything. That was the Canadian promise and my purpose is to bring it home.
Security and Law and Order: Strengthening border controls, combating drug trafficking, and enacting stricter penalties for criminals to ensure public safety.
Stop the Crime. Three words. And you know exactly what he means.
Tough on Crime. This is contrast language, intended to highlight the difference between the Liberals and his approach. That approach? Stricter penalties, especially for repeat offenders and fentanyl traffickers.
Secure the Borders. Again, three words is all it takes for him to convey a message around preventing illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and gun smuggling.
Security and Law and Order is the second-most frequent theme Poilievre touches on. Given what life looks like in many urban and suburban areas in Canada, I’ve no doubt these issues are topics of concern and generating unprompted discussion in focus groups.
“We must stop drugs to save our people and put Canada first. It starts with locking up mass traffickers and manufacturers of this poison with penalties that reflect the crime.”
Parental Rights and Freedom: Emphasizing parental authority in education and opposing government overreach into personal decisions.
Education: Concerns about what is being taught in schools and who should determine the curriculum, including specific worries about gender ideology being imposed on children without parental consent.
Drug policy. Concerns that government drug policies are endangering children and undermining parental authority.
Family Structure. The importance of family and parental involvement in raising children.
“Our children will not die in back alleys. That’s the Charter right I will uphold.”
Pay attention to these themes. They are calibrated for the current political climate, and I suspect, are resilient. I see no reason for these core themes to change much over the next 12 months, as they are flexible enough to adapt to public opinion swings on specific policy priorities. No matter the swing, most of what will consume the public’s political attention, fits within this broad frame.
Why do I think Poilievre will stick to these themes? Because of the level of repetition with which he has spoken to them, on a variety of topics. These themes work whether he is talking about economic issues, foreign policy challenges, trade wars, or social concerns.
The “Canada First” theme is potent right now, and frankly, always is. It taps into national pride and a desire for self-reliance, which Canadians are suddenly attuned to. The emphasis on economic prosperity and law and order let Poilievre focus on the issues that made him resonate in the first place. Affordability issues are not improving any time soon, and it remains an emotionally compelling reason for people to vote for change.
Poilievre’s Hooks
What would it take to capture your audience’s attention the way Poilievre does? Here’s the recipe:
Address the audience and your opponents directly. “My message to the Liberal Government….” This creates a sense of urgency, making the message personal and impactful.
Use strong emotional language and vivid imagery. Poilievre doesn’t just talk about crime. He talks about “mass murder,” “bullets into a crowd,” and “burying her face in her hands.” In so doing, he evokes strong feelings of anger, fear, and empathy, making the topic more compelling.
Create a clear enemy or villain. Poilievre names names. For example, he talks about “mass traffickers, fentanyl kingpins, Carney/Trudeau Liberals.” This helps him simplify the issue and directs blame towards a specific target, making it easier for his audience to understand and support his proposals.
Offer simple, concrete solutions. It’s not enough for Poilievre to talk about stopping crime. He also talks about the solutions. Mandatory prison sentences. Life sentences, etc. By focusing on the practical, he provides a sense of hope and direction, assuring his audience that he has a plan to address the problem.
Contrast the current negative with positive visions of the future. You see and hear it when Poilievre talks about everything being broken vs. “bringing home the country we knew and love.” This also creates a sense of urgency for change.
If you ever write a policy note for his government, you may want to consider these hooks. Write in this style, and you’ll be speaking his language. His techniques are effective because he simplifies complex issues, appeals to emotions, and offers clear solutions, making his message persuasive and memorable. These hooks create a compelling narrative that resonates with many Canadians and motivates them to support his agenda.
Poilievre’s Speaking Style
Every speaker has a formula they rely on to communicate. Few political communicators are innovative in their style, but with the right formula - the right combination of traits, some land their message more effectively. Here’s the formula Poilievre relies on:
Use of anecdotes and personal stories
Repetition and parallelism
Emotional appeals and strong language
Direct and assertive tone
Clear articulation of policy positions.
This formula contributes to a compelling and persuasive speaking style. Anecdotes create a connection and relatability. Repetition reinforces key messages and enhances memorability. Emotional appeals and strong language evoke a passion and conviction, driving the audience to feel the urgency of the issues. And a direct tone conveys confidence and decisiveness, assuring the audience of his leadership capabilities. And of course, a clear articulation of policy positions provides concrete solutions and demonstrates competence in preparedness to govern.
Power Phrases
Power phrases are short, impactful statements used in political speeches and communications to drive a point, evoke emotions, and make messages more memorable. They are designed to be clear, concise, and persuasive, often incorporating rhetorical devices like repetition, contrast, or metaphors. Here are the power phrases Poilievre has made his own:
“..it should not take a foreign leader to get the Liberals to wake up to the drug crisis that they have caused here at home. It should have been enough that we lost 50,000 of our people. We should crack down on drugs not to please president Trump but to ensure that not one more mother has to bury her face in her hands on learning that her son has died of an overdose in a back alley somewhere.”
Let's call fentanyl trafficking what it is: mass murder selling 40 milligrams of this poison is enough to kill 20 people it's like spraying bullets into a crowd you might not know who you're killing but it's certain someone will die.
It starts with locking up mass traffickers and manufacturers of this poison with penalties that reflect the crime. But what is that crime? Let's call fentanyl trafficking what it is: mass murder...we will lock them up and we will throw away the key...”
We’re going to bring home the country we knew and love.
These phrases are effective because they evoke strong emotional responses and paint vivid pictures. The first uses a powerful image of grief to personalize the drug crisis, while the second compares fentanyl trafficking to a random act of violence, escalating the perceived severity of the crime. The third phrase is a memorable soundbite promising decisive action, while the last is a nostalgic appeal to restore a sense of national identity and security. They enhance the message by making it more relatable, impactful, and memorable.
Emotional Tone
Politics is not just about the facts, or logic, or policy. It’s about how people feel about issues, about candidates, and about movements. The right emotional tone can mobilize supporters, persuade undecided voters, and make opponents look out of touch. Here is the emotional tone Poilievre has leaned into over the last two years:
Outrage
Urgency
Hope
Determination
Patriotism
These emotional qualities are significant because they drive Poilievre’s message and intended impact. Outrage fuels the condemnation of status quo. Urgency underscores the need for immediate action. Hope offers a vision of a better future. Determination conveys his commitment to change. Patriotism emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the nation, of putting Canada first. These emotions do not work, unless they reflect what Canadians are feeling right now.
Persuasion Tactics
Whether by design or by accident, political communicators often go back to the well in using communications tactics that have been proven effective at the art (and science) of persuasion. Here is how Poilievre persuades:
Appeal to fear. He uses vivid imagery and alarming statistics related to drug overdoses, crime, and economic instability to create a sense of urgency and anxiety. This can create a deep desire to seek solutions, which Poilievre always presents. Fear is a strong motivator.
Us. vs. Them. Poilievre isn’t shy to establish a clear divide between “us” (Canadians, common-sense conservatives) and “them” (liberals, NDP, Trudeau, foreign entities like China, criminals). This creates in-group loyalty and out-group animosity, making Poilievre’s solutions more appealing by framing them as actions against the “enemy.”
Bandwagon. There's a constant emphasis on the growing dissatisfaction with the current government and the claim that "everyone" feels this way. This creates a bandwagon effect by suggesting that Poilievre’s views are the popular and inevitable choice. People are naturally inclined to align with the perceived majority
Simplification. Complex issues like drug addiction, economic policy, and international trade are reduced to easily digestible soundbites and slogans ("Axe the tax", "Build the homes", "Jail not bail"). This simplifies the problem and the solution, making it easier for Canadians to understand and support, even if the reality is much more nuanced.
Poilievre is a master at swaying opinions by tapping into basic human emotions and cognitive biases.
What this means for your messaging
If you’re an advocacy group: The wrong message will get you shut out. The right message will get you a seat at the table. How can you frame your issue in a way that aligns with Poilievre’s Canada first positioning?
If you’re a business leader: Poilievre’s economic rhetoric is built around production, not abstraction. How can you talk about your industry in terms of jobs, affordability, and making life easier for Canadians?
If you’re in public affairs: Your old playbook is outdated. What worked with Trudeau won’t work now. How do you ensure your language doesn’t come across as elite-speak?
The political winds in Canada are shifting. Poilievre isn’t just winning on policy—he’s winning on messaging clarity, contrast, and emotional appeal.
The question isn’t whether to adapt. It’s how.
📌 If you’re crafting messages in a Poilievre-led Canada, ask yourself:
✅ Is your language sharp, simple, and clear?
✅ Are you using contrast to drive your point?
✅ Are you tapping into the emotions your audience already feels?
Because in this political reality, those who fail to adapt their communication style won’t just struggle to persuade—they’ll struggle to be heard at all, especially with the new Prime Minister.