Elon Musk cheers for Poilievre, mocks Trudeau as he steps into Canadian politics

As a giant of industry and the world's richest man, Elon Musk wields influence across the global economy. He's now leveraging that success to extend his influence into the democratic process in Canada and elsewhere.

In the past week alone, Musk has dipped into Canadian politics on his social media platform several times; endorsing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, showering him with praise, reposting his tweets and applauding his speeches and media interactions.

At the same time, he has mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his resignation, borrowing president-elect Donald Trump's language to refer to him as a "governor." He's even called Trudeau an "insufferable tool." 

The influence venture took off in 2022 when he bought Twitter, renaming it X and rolling back rules governing content moderation and disinformation. Describing the move as a defence of free speech, Musk swiftly reinstated Canadian influencer Jordan Peterson and president-elect Donald Trump's accounts. 

He then spent more than $200 million backing Trump's successful campaign to regain the U.S. presidency. 

His reward? A role heading Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency, and, perhaps more importantly, the president-elect's ear. 

Despite having more than 210 million followers on his own platform, and Trump's friendship, Musk seems to want more ears than Trump's, and is stepping into political debates around the world.

"It's about positioning yourself on the global stage as a thought leader, in inverted commas, who can rise above politics but also be aligned with it when it suits him," said Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.

"I think with Musk [his advocacy has] become aligned with what he sees as political movements around the world that share his libertarian anti-state, anti-regulation, anti-legacy media ideology," Chadwick told CBC News.  

Chadwick says Poilievre's pledge to repeal the Liberal government's online harms legislation, which the Conservatives say is overly broad and risks violating free expression, appeals to Musk, who he describes as an "ideological platform mogul."

Christopher Cochrane, a political science professor from the University of Toronto, believes it could simply be "vanity" compelling Musk to step into political debates at home and abroad.

"It's kind of remarkable that he was in a position to buy an entire social media network, almost sort of an alternative universe, and turn it into his own playground and a place to amplify his political views," he said.

"Just like he was able to figure out electric cars and build a successful rocket company … he's now just figured out another domain that other people aren't smart enough or brave enough or bold enough or whatever it is to have solved," Cochrane said. "There is kind of a hubris element to that."

To be fair to Musk, Cochrane says "it would be hard not to be overconfident when you've had the success he's had with PayPal and Tesla and SpaceX and all the other things."