Pierre Poilievre says it’s time to put Canada first

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Pierre Poilievre used a speech to the Conservative caucus and thousands of supporters to defend Canada’s sovereignty and promised to defend the country from American aggression.

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Standing before a massive Canadian flag on Flag Day, the Conservative leader said that he and his party will ensure that Canada never becomes the 51st state of the United States of America.

Over the past several months, American President Donald Trump has mused about Canada becoming the 51st state, mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by calling him “Governor Trudeau” and saying Canadians would be better off as Americans. In his speech, Poilievre was having none of it, pushing back hard against Trump push for Canada to be the next state.

“Sometimes it does take a threat to remind us what we have, what we could lose and what could become. The unjustified threats of tariffs and 51st statehood of Donald Trump have united our people to defend the country we love,” Poilievre said.

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Poilievre pointed to Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and said that Macdonald united Canada with a simple promise. That promise was that we would push back against American attempts to annex the Great White North and that a united Canada would, “give us a great, a united, a rich, an improving, a developing Canada, instead of making us a tributary to American laws, to American railways, to American bondage, to American tolls.”

Poilievre’s speech was big on patriotism, a fact that Liberals pointed out to try and make him seem American. Chrystia Freeland, former deputy PM, Trudeau finance minister and now Liberal leadership contender, tried to compare Poilievre to Trump.

“We were wondering where we’ve seen this movie before,” Freeland’s X account posted while juxtaposing a video of Poilievre walking out in front of Canadian flags against a video of Trump walking in front of American flags.

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For the past several weeks, Liberals have been wrapping themselves in the flag and declaring their patriotism. This after 10 years of saying Canada is a post-national state with no core identity built upon white supremacy.

Yet, since Trump’s attacks on Canada have ramped up, they have called for a Team Canada approach, found a new patriotism and denounced anyone who disagrees with them as a traitor. That is until Poilievre gave a patriotic speech, defending Canada in front of the flag.

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The official X account of the Liberal Party even tried to claim that Poilievre’s use of the phrase “Canada First” is somehow linked to white supremacy. The reality is that Poilievre has lifted that phrase and more from Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

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“Let your motto be Canada first, Canada last, and Canada always,” Laurier said in the 1904 Canadian federal election where he beat Conservative Leader Sir Robert Borden.

The Liberals are so detached from their own history and any sense of patriotism and nationalism that they see anyone quoting their own leader as being part of the far-right.

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These are not serious people. Poilievre showed again on Saturday that he is serious with warning to the Trump administration not to take Canadian politeness to mean push-over.

“See, the problem is, at times, we might be too polite, soft-spoken and humble for our own good,” Poilievre said. “We are slow to anger and quick to forgive, but never confuse our kindness with weakness.

“We love our country and flag. We are a strong people with a proud history as a warrior nation, whose soldiers have proven fierce enough to crush the fascists, the communists and Al-Qaeda, yet humble enough to never once brag about their heroism. We are mild-mannered and made of steel.”

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Poilievre said that if Canada must, we will respond with dollar for dollar tariffs but said the Americans need to learn that they can be more prosperous working with us than fighting against us. He also said that he would start approving resource projects within 90 days of becoming prime minister including east-west pipelines — even through Quebec — and LNG export terminals to make Canada less dependent on the United States.

He said that building Canada was hard and defending Canada and its sovereignty will also be hard but worth it.

“Because our country is worth fighting for: For our people. For our land. For our home. For Canada First, always and forever,” he said.

Amen to that. It’s about time we had a leader who put Canada first.

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