Pierre Poilievre seemed to be on an unstoppable march to political victory.
It was late December and Justin Trudeau¡¯s government was in disarray. The Canadian prime minister had lost his finance minister, was deserted by key members of his party and had gone into hiding from the media. Poilievre¡¯s Conservative Party, already well ahead in opinion polls, expanded its lead. As 2025 began, one projection had them on course to win two-thirds of seats in the country¡¯s House of Commons, a landslide.
Poilievre can look back wistfully on that moment now. Trudeau is gone, Donald Trump has upended the world order, Canada is abuzz with talk about the president¡¯s frequent threats ¡ª and the Conservatives¡¯ lead has evaporated with little more than four weeks to go until election day.
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