Rob Breakenridge: Pierre Poilievre is the champion Canada — and Alberta — needs right now

Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at the Royal Canadian Legion in downtown Calgary on Monday, June 8, 2026. Gavin Young/Postmedia

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CALGARY — Canada could use some champions right now, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre should be seen as a welcome addition to the federalist team.

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Of course, that pro-Canada coalition is rather loose to begin with and there should be no expectation of a coherent or cohesive message. Certain voices are going to be more effective in making certain arguments and reaching certain segments of the population.

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To that end, Poilievre represents an advantage, even if his case for Canada is starkly different from what you’d hear from Prime Minister Mark Carney or Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi or Forever Canadian petitioner Thomas Lukaszuk. But, arguably, it’s a case for Canada most likely to reach the ones most in need of being reached.

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Polievre’s much-hyped national unity speech Monday in Calgary may have come across to some as especially partisan or harshly critical of the federal government, but it was a necessary contribution to the discourse. It does not help the fight against separatism to be blind to its major drivers.

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As Poilievre put it, “If we want frustrated Albertans to vote for Canada, the absolute worst thing we can do is to dismiss their legitimate grievances and thus signal there is no hope of fixing them.”

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Of course, the speech wasn’t entirely about the policy failings of the last decade; although it’s difficult to separate that from everything else. When Poilievre says to frustrated Albertans, “we hear you,” they’re more likely to believe he’s telling the truth if he reflects what it is they’re saying.

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Poilievre believes many who say they want to leave really just “have a problem with the federal government,” and, as such, “We do not need a different country in Alberta. We need different government policies in Ottawa.”

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For one, it’s undeniably true that had Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives triumphed in the last federal election, the political climate and debate in Alberta would be night and day from what it is at the moment.

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It’s also true the Liberals — or, at least, certain Liberal policies and attitudes — have fanned the flames of the separatist movement and bear much responsibility for the high levels of frustration and disillusionment in Alberta.

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But if the answer to Canada’s problems is to oust the Liberals — and surely that couldn’t hurt — is that something Poilievre can actually deliver on?

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There was much hope in Alberta that Poilievre and the Conservatives could finally bring the Trudeau era to a close. As it turned out, it was a combination of Donald Trump and Mark Carney that ended the Trudeau era and, in doing so, pre-empted the Poilivere Conservative era. It’s been downhill in many ways since then for the Conservative leader.