Who is Pierre Poilievre? Canadas firebrand Conservative leader vying to become next PM after Justin Trudeaus exit

Pierre Poilievre, the man widely tipped to become Canada’s next leader following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s shock exit, is a firebrand conservative who has long vowed to save the country from “horrendous, utopian wokeism.” The leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, who has drawn comparisons to President-elect Donald Trump, was thrown into the global spotlight on Monday when Trudeau — his lefty rival — announced he was quitting after mounting calls to step down.As Trudeau’s party now scrambles to find a replacement to take on a widely popular Poilievre in an election year, this is what to know about the conservative party’s renowned attack dog.Poilievre, 45, is a Calgary-born, no-nonsense career politician who has led the country’s Conservative Party since 2022.The adopted son of school teachers, Poilievre was the president of the University of Calgary’s conservative club and took his first job out of school in a conservative politician’s office.

He was first elected to Canada’s Parliament back in 2004 when former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government was in power and quickly earned a reputation for going against the political norms.His popularity really started to skyrocket, though, in early 2022 after he was elected party leader.

Poilievre rose to prominence when he chose to back the truck drivers who had taken over the center of Ottawa as part of a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.Since then, he has ridden off the back of growing public discontent against Trudeau and the left-leaning government — repeatedly blaming the soon-to-be former PM for the ongoing cost of living crisis that is plaguing Canadians.

In an interview with podcaster Jordan Peterson last Friday, Poilievre — a married father-of-two — also railed against the Trudeau government for being “radical.”He put his polling success, too, down to Canadians being fed up with “horrendous, utopian wokeism.”In the lead-up to Trudeau�...