Inside a Poilievre rally the heat intensifies not just from the masses

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OSHAWA, ONT. — Doors are scheduled to open to see Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre at 6 p.m., but Brett Saltzman arrives at 9:30 a.m. 

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The 50-year-old father of three wanted to make sure he got into Thursday’s rally in Oshawa, Ont., and drove the hour or so east from his home in Toronto to find himself the first one waiting in line outside an airport hangar. It was his first political rally and he was surprised to find he was the first one there.

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That did not last long as hundreds of others soon began lining up behind him, many sporting signs, T-shirts and hats bearing Poilievre’s name.

Saltzman’s reasons for coming are familiar: He says he wants change, is concerned about the direction of the country and is thinking about this children’s future. 

Then there is Poilievre himself.

“I think he is genuine,” he told National Post. “I think, really, his heart’s in the right place. I think he really cares about the people of this country and he wants to make a positive change for all of us, whether you support him or not.”

Thousands of people like Saltzman have been flocking to see Poilievre at rallies across the country in the last couple of weeks, many driving long distances and waiting in line for hours. The size of the crowds — 5,000 in Surrey, B.C.; 3,500 in Winnipeg; 1,700 in P.E.I., according to party estimates — has startled political watchers. By the time this one gets going, the audience will swell to what the party estimates at 6,500 people.

Once inside the hangar people from the crowd start walking onto the platform set up in the middle as a stage. They take turns revving up the crowd, waving a Canadian flag and cajoling the sea of people to cheer as music pumps.

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“We love Pierre,” the supporters begin chanting.

Still, despite the enthusiasm and impressive turnouts, the bulk of public opinion polls show the Conservatives lagging the Liberals in most of the country, the gap only getting worse over the last two weeks.

Privately, some of Poilievre’s supporters shared their thoughts about what the Conservative leader needs to do to win over undecided voters, which he must do if he hopes to defeat the incumbent Liberals in key election battlegrounds such as Ontario, B.C. and Quebec.

But first, Linda Burns, who started lining up for Thursday’s rally at 11:30 a.m., had a message for her fellow Conservative supporters.

“They have to get out and vote,” she said. “You have no choice. You can’t think that, ‘Oh, I won’t vote ’cause he’s going to win.’ You have to vote.”

Poilievre’s campaign is pushing that same message. It’s counting on it.

The first speaker to take the stage Thursday evening is Jamil Jivani,

the party’s incumbent in Durham

. He tells the crowd that they don’t have to wait until election day on April 28; they can vote now by visiting their local Elections Canada office.

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Poilievre’s rallies consistently have an atmosphere of intense energy. They’ve been a hallmark of Poilievre’s campaigning since he ran for the party’s leadership in 2022. As his following has grown, so have the complexities of staging such events.

The campaign says more people keep showing up than they’d been used to expecting. Tonight, it only grows hotter inside the hangar from all the people. Faces are beaded with sweat. Poilievre’s arrival on the stage is delayed because of a serious medical emergency in the crowd.

The throngs have created some challenges for the campaign, which is looking to present a sunny, patriotic image. A giant Canadian flag has been installed against one of the hangar’s walls, serving as a backstop for when Poilievre takes the stage.

But several flags waved by supporters outside that read “F–k Carney” were nowhere to be seen once inside; they’re not allowed here. At one point a campaign staffer rushes to ask a man wearing a “Make Canada Great Again” hat to remove it as he poses for a photo with one of the Conservatives’ incumbent candidates.

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By the end of the evening, two ambulances were on site after four people either fainted or needed medical care.

Poilievre himself was interrupted twice by members of the crowd calling out for help. At one point, a woman called over to a member of his campaign to open one of hangar’s giant doors to let in some air.

Police have begun to expect a big gathering when Poilievre comes to town. At a rally the previous evening in Kingston, Ont., police said they prepared ahead of time. So many people were in the area, the cellular phone towers were overloaded.

In the Oshawa hangar, the leader’s wife, Anaida Poilievre, takes the stage to introduce her husband. She has been a staple of the campaign, unusual for a party that hasn’t spotlighted spouses in the past.

Cheers begin when she starts recounting her origin story, even though she’s publicly told it many times before: Growing up in Montreal as a Venezuelan immigrant with her family crammed into basement apartment, moving out at 17, beginning university at 19 while working full-time with a student loan, saving enough money to put a down payment on her own home by the time she turned 25.

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That is the picture of promise she tells supporters that her husband wants to restore.

When Poilievre appears, he winds his way to the stage along a path of roaring supporters.

He delivers his stump speech with the ease of a leader who has done it hundreds of times, which he has, relying only on a screen placed near the stage outlining the themes of his message.

He interacts with the crowd with the confidence of someone who speaks to them as if he knows them personally. Many seem to feel he does. “We love you Pierre,” someone shouts, as Poilievre shouts back that he loves them, too.

“Do we have any trades workers in this place?” Poilievre says at another point, as hands begin shooting up around the room.

“You’re a tradesman,” Poilievre says to one man. “What do you do?” he asks.

The man shouts the answer.

“Electrician,” Poilievre repeats, and then cracks a joke, “that is shocking.”

He then turns to another part of the stage. “What do we have over here?” he asks spotting a woman with an ironworkers logo emblazoned on her t-shirt.

“Ironworker!” Poilievre calls out.

“Give it up to the iron workers over here,” he says, and the crowd applauds while the woman stands up to more cheers.

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David Small, a millwright from around Peterborough, Ont., who brought his family to the Oshawa rally, said afterwards that he believes Poilievre’s message to the blue-collar trades is working.

Asked what Poilievre could do to appeal to voters who were still undecided, Small goes right to the leader’s style.

“I would like more prime-ministerial talk … if you will,” Small says. “Less sloganeering.”

Poilievre’s style comes up more than a few times among supporters, which wouldn’t likely come as news to the Conservative leader himself, who has been noticeably sporting more smiles than slogans and rolling out meatier policy announcements through the first two weeks of the campaign.

Denise Latimer, who drove from Brockville, Ont. to attend Poilievre’s rally in Kingston, had another idea.

“Stop name-calling,” she says. “It doesn’t show what he’s really about.”

Latimer gave the example of Poilievre’s nickname for Liberal Leader Mark Carney: “carbon tax Carney.”

“He’s a very strong person that stands up for our country,” she said of Poilievre, “but by calling Carney a name, he’s no better than what Trump was doing with (Justin) Trudeau. He’s a better man than that.”

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Poilievre appears to have received that message, too. He’s been focusing more of his stump speeches on the incumbent Liberals’ record as the “lost Liberal decade,” painting himself as the only option for change, while also chiding Carney for his corporate business dealings and for having lived outside Canada for long periods of his life.

Other supporters suggest Poilievre needs to more forcefully combat the concerns spread by his critics, from assuring seniors that their pensions are safe to affirming his position on abortion (his wife says the couple is “pro-choice” and Poilievre has pledged Conservatives won’t reopen the issue).

“I’m really asking the seniors to vote Conservative,” said Nina McQuay of Whitby, Ont., as she makes her way out at the end of the rally.

“We sure need a change in our country … I feel the seniors are not paying too much attention to what’s going on.”

Successive polling indeed suggest the Liberals have been doing well with older demographics, which creates a problem for Poilievre. They have historically turned out to vote more reliably than the younger generations Conservatives have been dominating, largely by owning the issue of housing affordability.

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But the Liberals aren’t having rallies on this scale.

Glen Legace voted Liberal for the past three elections. After taking in Poilievre’s rally in Kingston on Wednesday night, he said he heard everything he wanted to from the Conservative leader, but was already a fan.

Legace said he believes Poilievre is doing better than he expected to respond to the tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has been hitting Canada with. The Conservative supporter said he’s doing his best to convince others in his family Poilievre is the best man for the job as prime minister.

He admits that two friends of his and his wife’s who live in Florida and have dual citizenship have recently decided to switch their Conservative support to the Liberals, impressed by Carney’s economic credentials.

“We’re continuing to work on them,” Legace said.

Poilievre is trying, too.

National Post
staylor@postmedia.com

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