Poilievre's Conservative Party embracing language of mainstream conspiracy theories
CBC
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been hitting the summer barbecue circuit with ramped-up rhetoric around debunked claims that the World Economic Forum is attempting to impose its agenda on sovereign governments.
It is, some experts suggest, another sign that some conspiracy theories are moving from the fringes of the internet to mainstream thinking, as people's distrust of government grows.
In speeches to Conservative supporters across Canada, Poilievre has promised that none of his ministers will attend the international organization's conferences, including the annual meeting typically held in Davos, Switzerland.
"It's far past time we rejected the globalist Davos elites and bring home the common sense of the common people," said a Saturday fundraising email.
The Conservative Party also recently sent out mailers with a poll asking people to tell Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who they think the prime minister should stand with: working Canadians or the World Economic Forum.
The wording implies Trudeau's cabinet is beholden to the latter.
Poilievre did not agree to an interview on the matter. His spokesperson instead pointed The Canadian Press to a clip of him at a rally in Penticton, B.C., in July, expressing concerns over the government invading people's personal privacy and financial decisions.
"There will be no mandatory digital ID in this country, and I will ban all of my ministers and top government officials from any involvement in the World Economic Forum," Poilievre said, chuckling as he received lengthy applause for the remark.
Canada has long participated in WEF events. Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet ministers attended the summit regularly. Trudeau attended in person in 2016 and 2018, and his ministers have attended as well. Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland went to the most recent annual summit in January.
On digital IDs, the federal government has been looking at technology to create a national digital identification document to help people access government services. It has not been promoted as something that will become mandatory.
Last winter, a conspiracy theory circulating on social media suggested Trudeau was going to require provinces to sign on to digital ID systems for their residents in order to get billions in new health-care funding. That conspiracy was also debunked.
Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said some people have long embraced conspiracies, but now they have moved into mainstream politics.
"The big shift that we have seen is that it is now being promoted by someone who could be prime minister," said Bratt.
Poilievre peddled the WEF control claims during the Conservative leadership race in 2022, and it has emerged again as a regular talking point following the federal byelection in southern Manitoba, said Bratt.
