By Pepper Parr
February 28th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
There were two things that stood out for me when I reflected on when Pierre Poiliviere was speaking. The slogans he used “Axe the Tax,” “Build the Homes,” “Fix the Budget,” and “Stop the Crime”
He hammered away at it and from my perspective, there wasn’t much other than the slogan.
This wasn’t the only crowd of this size that turned out for a Poilievre speech.
Are we in the process of seeing a very different Pierre Poilievre?
The other thing was the size of the crowds that he drew. The force was certainly there – I just didn’t think the man had much to say.
In my reporting, I would say that Emily Brown didn’t have a hope of ever winning the Burlington federal seat as long as Poilievre was the party leader.
That changed for me.
Poiliviere spoke to the Economic Club of Canada with an excellent speech. I didn’t agree with some of it – but that was not the point.
He didn’t use a single slogan.
He made many excellent excellent points. He agreed to work with the Carney government
Some of the statements that resonated for me are below:
“Ours is not a country created by accident. Confederation was a conscious act of national self-determination–a decision by scattered provinces to unite, to build, and to govern themselves rather than be drawn into American annexation.”
“If you read the British North America Act, it is not a document of grand declarations or abstract ideals. It is an instruction manual. It sets out responsibilities.”
On China and diversification Poiliviere said: “… we should not declare a permanent rupture from our biggest customer and closest neighbour in favour of a strategic partnership for a new world order with Beijing– a regime the Prime Minister said a year ago was the biggest threat to Canada.”
“Our problem is not that these countries block our products from coming IN but that our own government blocks our products from getting OUT. Signing meaningless communiques and more stagecraft masquerading as statecraft won’t fix that.”
Poilievre sets out four pillars – he gets away from the snappy slogans:
“Abundant low-cost energy, unblocking resources and home building, a strong military and digital sovereignty.
Emily Brown could be a contender.
“We control the hemisphere’s largest landmass, airspace, and northern approaches. When we build a Strategic Reserve of energy and critical minerals housed in Canada, under Canadian control, we can sign an agreement to make these resources available at commercial prices to allies during crises, provided they honour tariff-free trade commitments.”
This was a Pierre Poilievre that I had not heard before and it is a politician the country should hear from more often.
Six months of this from Poilievre and Emily Brown could be a contender.
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Emily Brown would represent Burlington well. Karina Gould skipped along hand in hand with Trudeau for 10 years but was completely overlooked by Carney. Her website says that she is a fierce advocate for Burlington. How so? She does not respond to queries from her constituents. She does not allow residents to engage with her social media posts. What does she actually do for Burlington?
Editor’s note: Gould is the Chair of the House Finance Committee. They cleared the budget last week – and if that is not doing something for Burlington, and the whole of Canada than you need to learn more about what MP’s actually do.
Did you have a stroke?