…especially Coastal First Nations defending the Great Bear Rainforest given who is propping him up and the politics he represents.

Poilievre’s rise has been engineered largely through the influence of Stephen Harper and the International Democratic Union (IDU), an organization that explicitly facilitates coordination between right-wing parties across borders. The IDU has repeatedly been criticized by democratic watchdogs for blurring the line between domestic politics and foreign political influence, the very interference Conservatives claim to oppose.

This matters because the IDU’s record is not one of strengthening democracy, but of helping create the conditions under which far-right and authoritarian movements gain power by attacking institutions, minority rights, and public trust.

At home, Poilievre’s political position is weakening. He lost his own parliamentary seat, relies heavily on culture-war rhetoric, and his support has shown repeated volatility. Yet despite this instability, he continues to position himself as an authority on who belongs, whose rights are valid, and which nations are “legitimate.”

That is not only inappropriate, it is profoundly ironic.

Coastal First Nations are not symbolic interest groups. They are recognized rights-bearing governments whose authority is affirmed under Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, multiple Supreme Court decisions, and international law. Their opposition to pipelines through the Great Bear Rainforest is grounded in sovereignty, environmental stewardship, and economic self-determination, not ideology.

Poilievre’s repeated efforts to dismiss, minimize, or delegitimize Indigenous leadership follow a troubling pattern. Whether attacking UNDRIP, questioning reconciliation frameworks, or undermining Indigenous consent, he has consistently treated Indigenous rights as an obstacle rather than a constitutional reality.

At the same time, he has directed relentless attacks at Mark Carney, not on policy substance, but through insinuation, nationalism, and grievance politics designed to stoke division rather than offer solutions.

Perhaps most revealing is Poilievre’s constant refrain that “Canada is broken.”

Canada is not broken.

What is being broken, intentionally, is our social cohesion.

Canada’s identity is rooted in principles that Poilievre repeatedly undermines:

• respect for Indigenous rights

• commitment to reconciliation

• dignity for refugees and immigrants

• rejection of racism and denialism

• belief in democratic institutions

• pluralism over grievance politics

Poilievre’s strategy depends on convincing Canadians that the country itself has failed so that he alone can present himself as the fix.

But the truth is this:

you cannot heal a country by telling its people that their neighbors, their institutions, and their constitutional foundations are illegitimate.

You cannot build unity by attacking Indigenous nations.

You cannot strengthen democracy by flirting with movements that undermine it globally.

You cannot defend sovereignty while partnering with international networks that coordinate partisan power across borders.

Canada does not need to be “rescued” from its values.

Those values: reconciliation, inclusion, constitutional rights, and shared responsibility are precisely what make Canada worth defending.

And anyone who treats those foundations as disposable has no business claiming to lead the country forward.