Pro-Bitcoin Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre Holds Massive Rally
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance and officially endorsed Poilievre just three weeks before Canada chooses its next national leader.
Thousands Pack Venue for Conservative Leader’s Landmark Rally
The sleepy blue-collar city of Edmonton, capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, was the focal point of national attention on Monday after Pierre Poilievre drew more than 15,000 voters to his biggest rally yet, held on Monday in an obscure warehouse just outside of the provincial capital.
Liberal strategists have struggled to explain the discrepancy between poll numbers that show former central banker and current unelected prime minister Mark Carney in the lead, despite paltry rally numbers. On the day of Poilievre’s record turnout, Carney himself had his best turnout thus far, 2,000 supporters in a hotel ballroom just south of Vancouver, British Columbia, a mere fraction of his opponent’s numbers.
The battle between Poilievre and Carney has the nation at a crossroads. Poilievre is the pro-crypto, free markets, and small government candidate. He plans to slash taxes, curb government spending, and reduce the country’s dependence on the U.S., a once strong ally that has gone rogue. Carney is a proponent of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and a proud World Economic Forum (WEF) globalist who, up until just a few months ago, was former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s economic advisor. Under Trudeau, Canada’s economy flatlined, which might explain Carney’s meager attendance numbers.
(Canadian GDP per capita flatlined during the 9 years Justin Trudeau was in power / Numbers from Statistics Canada, graphic from Reddit)
But the Canadian mainstream media, which is almost all liberal, has characterized Poilievre’s rallies as a manifestation of conservative echo chambers, too small to decide the general election on April 28.
“At what point are you just talking in an echo chamber,” asked one reporter a day after the event. “I think it’s pretty broad,” Poilievre responded. “When was the last time we had a rally that big in Canada,” Poilievre asked. “I don’t know, I’ve never been to a political rally that big I don’t think,” the reporter answered.
A Brief History of Canada’s Record-Breaking Political Rallies
Canada, a country of just 40 million, doesn’t tend to have political rallies with five-figure attendance. Ironically, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s father, who is held in much higher esteem than his drama teacher son, drew in a record 45,000 people at Toronto’s Civic Square in 1968, a rally widely touted as “the largest political rally ever” according to the National Post.
(Pierre Trudeau during his 1968 rally with 45,000 supporters in Toronto / Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
But that was outdoors, and Poilievre’s rally was inside. It turns out Trudeau senior also packed Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in 1979 with 18,000 people indoors, but he still lost that election, something to keep in mind.