Recently, Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre appeared on Jordan Peterson’s podcast, and the interview has received north of 40 million views when both YouTube and X viewership are included. These are numbers associated with celebrity social media views and pop songs, but a Canadian opposition leader — not the prime minister — is captivating the podcast and alternative media space talking about his policy goals for when he becomes prime minister of Canada, which is inevitable at this point.

So, the question must be asked: Who is Pierre Poilievre? And what is he all about?
First of all, his surname is pronounced “pwah-lee-ev” but many Canadians pronounce it “paw-lee-vere.” The name is clearly French Canadian, but he hails from Alberta, which is where he was born (1979) and raised. He was adopted as an infant and has been a conservative his whole life. While he was in university, he was involved with his school’s Reform Club, which was a student political club supportive of the then Reform Party of Canada, a Western Canadian right-wing political party.
He got into professional politics when he was quite young, working for the Canadian Alliance Party — the renamed Reform Party — when he was fresh out of school, and elected as a member of Parliament (MP) in 2004 for the newly formed Conservative Party of Canada, which was a merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party.
His general political opinions have always been right-leaning and populist, which is in keeping with his Albertan roots, and his views on economics have been consistent throughout his career. As he stated in his interview with Peterson, he has been advocating for economic and personal liberty since his youth, which was something he argued for in his essays as a student.
However, his stance on moral issues has not remained the same as he has progressed in his political career. Earlier in his career, he demonstrated a pro-life stance when votes associated with pro-life...