For many Americans, and indeed the wider world, Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast was probably their first exposure to his particular brand of Canadian neoliberalism. While Poilievre is no stranger to the broader right-wing podcast world, with his multiple appearances on Jordan Peterson’s podcast over the last few years, his access to Rogan’s twenty million YouTube subscribers and an average of eleven million listeners per episode on Spotify, is a coup, both for domestically shoring up and internationally expanding his ideological influence. Indeed, at the time of writing, the interview, which ran 2.5 hours long, has garnered over 1.5 million views on YouTube in twenty-four hours.
As I have previously argued, Poilievre has often been dismissed by mainstream journalists or treated as too extreme for the broader Canadian electorate. He is often depicted as little more than a reactionary right-wing virtue signaler, the champion of the Freedom Convoy, or a right populist fighting against “woke tyranny,” but such portrayals gloss over his consistent commitment to a project of restructuring the state through austerity. Understanding that project — and what he aims to achieve by appearing on Rogan — helps clarify what’s at stake.
Autobiographical detail was front and center in giving color to his life and politics on Rogan’s podcast. Central to this narrative is his experience as an adopted child of schoolteachers — an experience he typically argues was his most formative, leading him to the belief that “it is voluntary generosity among family and community that are the greatest social safety net that we can ever have. That’s kind of my starting point.” On Rogan, he links this upbringing to a broader working-class experience: one on a shared street of “normal hardworking folks” like electricians, oil workers, and police officers who were “getting screwed over” because “the…
Auteur: Ryan Kelpin
