Tasha Kheiriddin: Pierre Poilievre’s deportation gamble

Good take:

….Here’s the rub. Yes, it is unfair that refugees can access benefits unavailable to Canadian citizens. Why should asylum claimants get discount supplemental health care when millions of Canadians are lining up at food banks? Why should criminals get lower sentences, remain in the country, and get health care on the taxpayer’s dime? These things are wrong and must be remedied.

But as with most things in politics, communications matters. Timing and framing can decide whether an issue gets resolved or simply serves as an occasion to grandstand. And in the current case, I fear it’s the latter.

Deporting foreign criminals is exactly what US President Donald Trump promised to do during his 2024 election campaign. Since then, the word “deportation” has become a lightening rod, conjuring up images of American ICE agents detaining five-year-olds and shooting their own citizens. You can’t talk about this issue, and use the identical vocabulary, without being linked to the current administration in Washington.

So why is Poilievre using this language? There are two possible answers: one, he and his comms people don’t see it, or two, they do — and are making a calculated appeal to MAGA-friendly voters in Canada.

“This does a disservice to the very issue they are championing. The Conservatives know they aren’t going to get the changes they are asking for — but they will shore up their base, one third of which are Trump fans.

Why now? Poilievre’s party may have given him an 87 per cent endorsement at his policy convention, but he just lost another MP to the Liberals. His best frenemy, Durham MP Jamil Jivani, just returned from a White House meet-and-greet with his former law school buddy, Vice President J.D. Vance, which he warbled about all over social media. Caucus is grumbling at the prospect of Carney cobbling together a majority, leaving them warming the opposition benches for another three years. And the Liberals have a twelve-point lead in the polls, should they choose to call an early election.

The Conservatives’ concerns about immigration aren’t misplaced. But in the current climate, they’re more rage farm than reform….

Source: Tasha Kheiriddin: Pierre Poilievre’s deportation gamble