Chantal Hebert writes that Pierre Poilievre's performance has not been stellar. He appears to be taking the same road that his two predecessors took:
Nine months into his tenure, there is no denying that the latest CPC leader is having a measurable impact on Canada’s federal dynamics.
But is it the kind of impact the Conservatives need to return to the government benches? The early evidence suggests otherwise.
More so than its federal rivals, the Conservative party has tended, over the course of its history, to be beset by infighting.
If the past is any indication, it is only when the party succeeds in setting aside its internal divisions that it achieves its goal of forming government.
Brian Mulroney in 1984 and Stephen Harper in 2006 both managed to tick the box of party unity before leading the party to government.
But Poilievre doesn't unite people. He pisses them off:
If anything, fractures within the party have become deeper over the first months of his tenure.
Such divisions were on exhibit over the campaigns that led to Monday’s federal byelections.
The Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar was the scene of an ugly fratricidal war between Maxime Bernier’s breakaway party and the Poilievre forces. Meanwhile, in the Ontario riding of Oxford, part of the local CPC establishment campaigned for the Liberals.
While the Conservatives held both ridings, it did not make the kind of dent in Liberal support it will need if it is to win the next general election. Nor did its campaign project the image of a government-ready party. Settling scores, at just about any future cost to the party as exemplified by the battle against Bernier, seemed to be the only order of the day.
Increasingly these days, conservative insiders tend to be more critical of Poilievre’s approach than his Liberal, New Democrat and Bloc rivals.
Those critics include prospective star candidates who — only six months ago — were seriously thinking of running under the CPC banner.
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney spoke for many of them when he dismissed tactics to undermine the Liberal government and praised Trudeau’s leadership last week.
The Conservatives are incapable of pitching a big tent. They would rather have a pup tent in their own backyard.
Image: K9 Of Mine
