The Conservatives are targeting rural and northern British Columbia, Ontario.
Conservative leader Pierre Poiliev’s path to power may lie in prosecuting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been in government for the past eight years, but his path to victory is colored orange by the NDP.
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Appealing to working-class voters in rural and northern constituencies – such as those held by the New Democrats in B.C. and the Liberals in northern Ontario – is part of what Poilievre sees as a winning formula.
That offensive was on full display on Vancouver Island recently as he crossed into NDP territory, rallying supporters in Nanaimo and taking photos with workers at a Port Alberni plant. He also stopped at a steel mill and harbor in B.C.’s Lower Mainland to talk to workers whose photos have flooded his social media feeds.
“We see Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party leader, in stores and factories,” said Ellie Blades, a strategist who worked on his 2022 leadership campaign in British Columbia.
Blades, who works at Mash Strategy, said it’s a populist approach that has served Poilievre well so far.
“It’s a transition that I think the Conservatives have done very correctly and strategically,” she said. “We see the floor and the stage.”
