CTV National News: Conservatives regroup after election setback as Poilievre's future in question
CTV National News: Conservatives regroup after election setback as Poilievre's future in question
Despite gains in the popular vote, Pierre Poilievre lost his seat and now the Conservative party must decide if he stays on as leader. Judy Trinh reports.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Observer
an hour ago
- National Observer
If Carney wants to build, he should go big on a Youth Climate Corps
When our delegation of Youth Climate Corps (YCC) organizers met Mark Carney outside the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo in 2024, Canada was a different place. To remind the Liberal Party of their promise made in the 2024 federal budget to hold consultations on a YCC, we staged a lemonade stand to 'raise' the $1 billion needed for a Canada-wide program to put thousands of young people to work confronting the climate emergency — the defining crisis of our lives. This fun stunt gained the attention of Carney — then just an economic advisor to the Liberals — and Members of Parliament, who reassured us a YCC would be established. We couldn't have predicted the political whirlwind that would follow just months later, resulting in former prime minister Justin Trudeau's resignation and Mark Carney's election to the position. Though the Liberals won, the results of the federal election show a persistent disconnect between the governing party and young Canadians. In a rightward shift among youth, the Conservatives won the student vote. If the Liberals want to earn back the trust of young people, they must make a compelling and inspiring offer, and the Youth Climate Corps represents just that, but only if it is a genuinely bold invitation. The crises we face call for more than a precarious pilot program After years of youth advocacy, the YCC was finally featured on most major party platforms: the New Democrats, Greens, and re-elected Liberals. This win is a testament to the dedicated and inspiring advocacy of Canadian youth across the country. But the 'pilot' program proposed by the Liberals is far too modest, and sends mixed signals about whether they truly understand the severity of the crises we face. As the Liberal platform states, 'Building Canada strong starts with our workers.' We agree. That's why they must scale up their inadequate promise and create the ambitious and visionary climate corps that Canada desperately needs. The YCC pilot envisioned in the Liberal platform is too small and susceptible to dismantling by future governments. Some conservative pundits have been calling for the 'Muskification' of Canada, advocating for our very own Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). To combat MAGA-style politics from entering Canada, an innovative and courageous program, like the YCC, must be protected and built right from the beginning, with human rights and Indigenous leadership at its core. If the Liberals want to earn back the trust of young people, they must make a compelling and inspiring offer, and the Youth Climate Corps represents just that, write Bushra Asghar, Erin Blondeau, Lea Mary Movelle and Juan Vargas Alba Late in his term, President Joe Biden launched an American Climate Corps, only to have President Trump terminate it as soon as he took office. We can't repeat the same mistakes as the United States. How a Youth Climate Corps would work The YCC should offer well-paid jobs and training for people 35 and under, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building renewable energy, restoring ecosystems, and responding to climate disasters. The program would offer positions which include but are not limited to work, such as building retrofits, green construction, conservation, strengthening local food systems and supporting municipalities in developing and implementing their climate action plans. It would create accessible, barrier-free opportunities for young people, prioritizing underserved, undervalued and under-resourced communities. Young people would be empowered to enter the workforce with living wages and union representation, combatting the distressing rise in the youth unemployment rate. Indigenous sovereignty, rights and leadership would guide the way. But for a program like this to work, it needs to be big. If built right and in adherence to our campaign principles, the YCC would create at least 20,000 jobs across Canada in the first year, and grow with demand each year thereafter. If Carney wants to 'build, baby build,' then we need a well-trained and prepared workforce to get the job done. Polling shows the majority of Canadians across every demographic support the idea of a YCC, and 15 per cent of people under 35 are excited and ready to enlist immediately. The Liberal Party must reckon with the reality that young men are turning to the political right after feeling abandoned by the Liberals, yet a huge majority of young men are excited about the idea of a YCC. To Prime Minister Mark Carney: You have expressed your ambition to 'build things we've never imagined, at a speed we've never seen.' Now is your opportunity to establish a transformative, large-scale Youth Climate Corps, and watch as we strengthen this nation without leaving anyone behind. Erin Blondeau is the communications director at the Climate Emergency Unit, an independent journalist and a human rights and climate justice organizer. Bushra Asghar is the co-director of the national Youth Climate Corps campaign and a human rights and climate justice organizer.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Poll suggests half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
OTTAWA – A new poll suggests that nearly half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza almost two years after the current conflict began. In a survey conducted last weekend, the polling firm Leger asked Canadians and Americans a series of questions about the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Leger surveyed 1,511 Canadians and 1,011 Americans between June 6 and June 8. The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples. The polling comes as the federal government is under pressure to take concrete steps to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Leger asked respondents whether they 'agree or disagree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip' based on how they 'define what constitutes a genocide.' The UN declared genocide a crime under international law in 1946. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines it as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. That can include killing members of the group, causing them serious injury, deliberately inflicting conditions that can be dangerous to their lives, imposing measures to prevent births within the group, or forcibly transferring children from the group to another group. Just less than half of the Canadian respondents, 49 per cent, said they agree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, including 23 per cent who said they strongly agree and 26 per cent who said they somewhat agree. Another 21 per cent said they disagree with the claim that Israel is committing genocide — 10 per cent said they somewhat disagree and 11 per cent said they strongly disagree. The remaining 30 per cent said they didn't know or refused to answer. Conservative supporters were the least likely to say they believe Israel is committing genocide, with 37 per cent agreeing with the statement and 33 per cent disagreeing. More than 60 per cent of Liberal, NDP, Green Party and Bloc Québécois supporters said they agree Israel's actions amount to genocide. The poll was conducted just days before the Canadian government took action against Israeli cabinet ministers it accuses of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. On Tuesday, a group of five countries including Canada announced sanctions against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The five countries accused the ministers of calling for the displacement of Palestinians and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Last month, an open letter from Prime Minister Mark Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Israeli military operations in Gaza and called the level of suffering in the territory 'intolerable.' The letter threatened concrete actions if the Israeli government did not allow more food aid into Gaza and end its military operations there. It also called on Hamas to release its remaining hostages. In response to the genocide question, 38 per cent of Americans polled said they agree Israel is committing genocide, while 26 per cent said they disagree and 36 per cent said they don't know. Supporters of the Democrats – 52 per cent – and Americans under the age of 35 – 53 per cent – were the most likely to call the situation in Gaza a genocide. More than half of Canadians, 54 per cent, said they don't follow news about the Middle East or the current conflict in the Gaza Strip. Just nine per cent said they're following news about the Gaza conflict very closely, and another 35 per cent said they're following somewhat closely. American respondents reported almost the same levels of engagement. Despite that, 49 per cent of Canadians and 54 per cent of American respondents said they feel they have a very good or fairly good understanding of the conflict in Gaza. Opinions on mainstream media reporting about the conflict were evenly split, with 20 per cent of Canadian respondents saying they feel the media has been 'generally balanced.' Another 20 per cent said they feel the coverage has been more favourable toward Palestinians and 21 per cent said it was more favourable to Israel. American respondents reported almost identical responses. Many Canadians surveyed were pessimistic about the possibility of a peaceful resolution. When asked whether they believe that lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians can be reached, 41 per cent of Canadian respondents said no, 28 per cent said yes and 31 per cent said they don't know. Canadian respondents over age 55 were the least optimistic — 51 per cent of them said a lasting peace cannot be achieved. Americans were more evenly split, with 34 per cent saying they think peace is out of reach and 33 per cent saying it can be achieved. The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. — With files from David Baxter This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Canada Standard
9 hours ago
- Canada Standard
How far-right ideas in Canada are working their way into mainstream politics
The fortunes of the Conservative Party and its leader Pierre Poilievre in Canada's April 2025 election seemed to have shifted dramatically after United States President Donald Trump called for Canada to become the 51st state. Political pundits regarded Mark Carney and the Liberal Party's victory - along with the failure of Poilievre to retain his own seat - as a "Trump slump" and a repudiation of both Trump's and Poilievre's style of politics. But is that an accurate assessment? The Conservative Party received its largest vote share since Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Exit polling data suggested stronger support for the Conservative Party among people aged 18-34 than among people aged 55 and older. Although Trump has said Poilievre is "not a MAGA guy," some political analysts have likened the rhetoric of Poilievre and other Canadian Conservatives to American Republicans who lean towards far-right Christian nationalist politics.. As an inter-religious humanities scholar of the U.S. far right, I have observed alarming parallels between the rise of the far right in mainstream politics in the U.S. and the scene in Canada. Read more: A 'Trump slump' has lifted the left in Canada and now Australia - what are the lessons for NZ? In the U.S., both scholars and news media have been highlighting the connections between far-right Christian ideology and politics. Trump's first presidential term ended with the Jan. 6, 2021 violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Scholars like Matthew Taylor, author of The Violent Take it by Force , have pointed to Christian nationalism and other far-right ideologies as factors that motivated the rioters. In February 2025, Trump appointed televangelist Paula White-Cain to head the newly created White House Faith Office. White-Cain's appointment followed an executive order establishing a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias. Thea appointment adds to the the narrative that U.S. Christians are facing persecution, a refrain since at least the 1970s and heightened during Barack Obama's presidency. Scholars have linked the assertion that "Christianity is under attack" to the rise of Christian nationalism in mainstream politics. Read more: Trump may have emboldened hate in Canada, but it was already here American sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry define Christian nationalism as "a cultural framework that blurs distinctions between Christian identity and American identity, viewing the two as closely related and seeking to enhance and preserve their union." It's tempting to read "Christian idenity" and "American identity" and assume it does not affect Canada. But Christian nationalist ideologies were present during the so-called Freedom Convoy in Ottawa in 2022. According to Canadian scholars, national identity is blurred in online spaces, allowing U.S. nationalist ideals to take hold in Canada.] Christian nationalism is not synonymous with Christianity or any specific branch of Christianity, like evangelical Christianity. According to U.S. sociologist Daniel Miller, Christian nationalism is not a set list of ideological or religious beliefs. Instead, Miller says, Christian nationalism emerges when people identify with "a very narrow, idealized prototype of the 'real or 'authentic' American." He says two mechanisms connect people to Christian nationalism. The first is perceived loss of power by the people who historically held power. This is known as a "power devaluation crisis." The second is a narrative of decline - known as a a "declensionist narrative" - which asserts that American society has declined since the 1960s and needs repair and reclamation. Poilievre is not open about his religion and does not call for Canada to be a Christian nation. But whether Poilievre intends to stir up Christian nationalists, some of his rhetoric has indicated support for the classic definitions of Christian nationalism. According to Miller, support for Christian nationalism is not always direct. It can be activated by stoking a crisis of lost power, like the decline of the "traditional" family or by asserting a narrative of decline, like "Canada is broken." For example, Poilievre's 2025 campaign mobilized both of the narrative mechanisms that attract Christian nationalist mentioned by sociologists: a power devaluation crisis and the narrative of decline. In the lead-up to his 2025 campaign, Poilievre repeatedly called Canada "broken.". He cited increased crime, addiction, high grocery prices and more as evidence of Canada's brokenness, accusing the Liberal government of erasing Canada's past. When Poilievre calls Canada "broken," it affirms the world view of Christian nationalists. Another strategy Poilievre reportedly adopted from Trump was his work to court conservative Christians. In an 2024 interview with The Tyee , religious right scholar Carmen Celestini of Waterloo University said Poilievre had "ramped up" his presence at churches. Additionally, The Globe and Mail reported there were fewer photos ops of Poilievre visiting mosques in 2024. Of course, visits to churches are not enough to signal alignment with Christian nationalists. And Poilievre has not espoused any Christian evangelical ideals in any public speech. But it's still important for Canadians to remain alert about Christian nationalists and their ambitions to become part of mainstream politics. A study from the U.S. has linked the rise in Christian nationalist ideologies to attacks on religious minorities. The 2024 qualitative data from the study indicates that when politicians rhetorically supported Christian nationalist values, there was a increased violence against minority groups. According to Statistics Canada, the violent crime rate in Canada rose 13 per cent from 2021-2022.. Police-reported hate crimes increased 32 per cent from 2022 to 2023. Crimes targeting religion rose 67 per cent in 2023, primarily targeting Jewish and Muslim communities. While I know of no studies showing the rise of the far right is directly leading to violence in Canada, Canadians should be aware of the pattern in the U.S. Research shows that growing Christian nationalists and far-right world views south of the border are, in fact, connected to a rise in violence.
