Canada awaits the outcome of Canada/ USA Hockey Armageddon II it’s fair to assess just how much a single hockey game has sharpened the focus on the political line brawl between the the nations. The proxies on skates have revealed a few truths about contemporary Canada.

While the Liberal party has suspended reality so that it can pretty-up Mark Carney, Canada’s media instead fawns over conflicting polls showing a Kamala Harris-like ascension of Carney to contender status. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s Canadian rhetoric gets more belligerent as his 30-day tariff reprieve runs out. Finally, Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary has advised Trump to delay the tariff Apocalypse till Canada can get an election done.

The common denominator in all this is Conservative leader Pierre Polievre. Or, at least, the mystery of Pierre Poliievre. There are several Poilievres in circulation. There is the Liberal/ NDP version of a nasty wolverine who savages innocent reporters and talks down his nose to opponents.; Next, there is the sunset media’s version of an untested slogan-reciting automaton.

And finally there is the Paul Ryan nerd clone who thrives on explaining kitchen-table economics to people awash in debt and despairing of ever getting ahead in DEI land. Which is the real deal? And does Poilievre himself know who he is anymore?

This distinction is important because, barring a charisma implant for Mark Carney, Poilievre will be the next prime minister, likely with a healthy majority. Neither of the first two Poilievre constructs will disappear soon, of course. The comms teams on the Left are determined to ride over Poilievre, however bad the polls. You need only look at the how the vanquished Left in the U.S. still acts as if they, not Trump, won a mandate last November to understand that Liberals are loath to accept any public rebuke.

The best place to answer the question of who is PP does not come from his apple-eating defenestration of the hapless reporter in B.C. While the MAGA right worshipped that moment and other slap-downs of the press— and the Left demonized him for it— it seems that the Poliievre being groomed by his advisors is meant to be softer and more statesmanlike.

His Saturday rally in Ottawa, shortly before the Canada/ USA hockey brawl, was a good place to start. In the face of Trump’s imminent tariff threat gone was the pitiless street fighter and in came the statesman, full of talk about the glories of Canada and why America needs us.

He seemed intent on tying up the Boomer vote with this speech. Oh wait. Boomers still love Liberals and Carney. Why is Poilievre going after that unwinnable demographic? Isn’t that the quicksand every Conservative, save Steven Harper, has floundered in? But there was Poilievre wandering into Liberal Speak, trying to list the benefits of the nation’s past.

Real Canadians– eg those not voting for Carney– know what a great place it can be. They don’t need to be given a Tourism Canada commercial. And as we wrote last week younger Canadians need a reason to reject Trump’s offer of citizenship. Poilievre needed to level with Canadians about what happened the past decade on defence, crime, DEI. He needed to be frank about money laundering, fentanyl production and the penetration of China’s Communists into the fabric of the land.

While his handlers seemingly urged him to go statesman,  Canadians were willing to hear the truth, not another Carney eye glazer. He needed to channel Harry “Give ‘Em Hell” Truman (“I tell my opponents the truth and it feels like hell.” ) He needed to say he’ll be pitiless in his treatment of those (media, PSA) who stand in the way of a bright new day. As so often happens it was CPC playing on Liberals turf instead of staking out their own. Canada already has Doug Ford, they’re saying. We don’t need another mushy Tory.

Poilievre concluded with a Churchill barb about how America will always do the right thing— after they’ve exhausted the other possibilities. It was an unnecessary and provocative one liner from a guy who’s try to establish his bonafides as the capable negotiator for Canada O’Leary is promising he’ll be. Did he and his brain trust think the thin-skinned Trump would simply slough off the jibe?

It is performances like these that leave Canadians wondering if they’re voting for Poilievre or simply voting against Trudeau and the thoroughly corrupt Liberal/ NDP coalition. Wobbly performances like this will lead to vote leakage to Liberals and to Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada. Bernier has urged a realistic assessment of Canada’s precarious position vis a vis the USA.

Instead of perpetuating the shopworn homilies to 1970s Canada that have expired, Bernier suggests looking at the opportunities of closer economic— not cultural— cooperation with the Americans. Let Liberal/ NDP moan about collaboration. They’re like the three little pigs expecting their houses of straw and twigs will survive the ongoing attacks of China and international money laundering.

Poilievre has to stop pretending that a heavily indebted and structurally crumbling Canada can withstand the next four years of Trump bombast. He must have an intervention with the Canadian public to bring them to the bracing reality they face. Only when they know which side is up, away from Trudeau, will they start to climb out of this mess.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. You can see all his books at brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

Canada is a nation of fissures. East versus West. French versus English. White versus indigenous. For much of its 157-year history its has overridden those divides to stand as an independent nation. Its ability to do so has, however, made it a very complacent partner in security.

Donald Trump has now exposed a new fissure, and this one just might be the kill shot to Confederation. In his brazen attempts to exploit the many vulnerabilities imposed on Canada by the Justin Trudeau government  Trump has asked a question that petrifies the Canadian establishment.

Would Canadians rather join the powerful U.S. and abandon a rickety Canadian union? Which future holds the greater attraction, being a state/ partner of America or continuing to go it alone in a world of ambitious nations like China, Russia and India? Uncle Sam or Sir John A.? (Wait, Canada has tossed aside the founder of Confederation. Who else is there? We’ll have to get back to you on that.)

The polling results are bracing. Companies setting out to answer Trump’s existential question have discovered that while Boomers and their sunset media still see Canada as a land of Terry Fox, Anne Murray and the 1972 Summit Series, under 50s see something different and dangerous. And they are willing to listen to offers. A stunning 43 percent from the 18-35 Millennial demographic say they are willing to join the U.S. if offered citizenship and asset conversion to USD. In the +55 bracket just 17 percent of Canadians would trade their citizenship.

In 18-35 polling, 65 percent say Trump’s demand that Canada shape up to keep doing business with America has made them doubt the future of the nation. (35 percent +55) When asked if it’s just a matter of time till the U.S. consumes Canada 31 percent say yes (11 percent +55). And 35 percent say Quebec or Alberta will leave Confederation within the decade (22 percent +55).

These polls hew closely to current voter preferences in the (maybe) upcoming federal election. In the Super Boomer category (65+) 48 percent will vote for for the Mark Carnivores. In the 50-64 demo that number is 41 percent. But flip the age demographic and it’s the opposite. Conservatives lead the 18-35 bracket with 45 percent support versus 21 percent for Liberals and NDP 20 percent. Young people are pissed.

It’s hard to look at these numbers and not believe that the romantic notion of Canada being proposed by PMJT is running out of runway. And, irony of ironies, the young fresh face from 2015 is a main culprit for the disillusionment now gripping younger Canadians. But ten hard years of watching Happy Ways become Hippy Ways have convinced many among Gen-X and Millenials that, barring an inheritance, there is little to attract them to staying in Canada.

While Boomers desperate to embrace Carney plaintively ask, “what was so bad about Trudeau?” the current children or grandchildren of Boomers have a long list of grievances from his chaotic time in the PMO. Inaccessible housing, escalating taxes, refusing to retire, self-absorbed culture appropriation (blackface), DEI/ ESG effect on white people, over-reliance on outdated government and hoarding healthcare facilities and doctors… the list is long.

American psychologist Lawrence R. Summers has heard Millennials in his practice. “Boomers hogged the economy and the world’s resources for their own financial gain and/or consumptive habits… They are often seen as greedy and wasteful, with no regard for what future generations will inherit.

“To put it another way, they’re frequently viewed as dinner guests who’ve eaten and drank pretty much everything set out on the table, leaving only scraps for those who came later to the party, even their own children.” A cursory look at inflated real estate prices— houses serving as cash boxes for Boomers— serves to illustrate this deep frustration.

Before you say, well, this disaffection with Boomers is the same everywhere, remember that 78-year-old  Donald Trump swung the youth vote last November, moving it 20 percentage points in his direction. Going on alternative podcasts and social media that young people identify with blunted what had always been a Democratic party asset, exposing its fossilized leadership.

Boomers are cranky about Elon Musk employing teenaged whiz kids to ferret out corrupt USAID spending. Democrat geezers driven crazy by the Musk DOGE youngsters then are reminded of the ages of some of the Founding Fathers in 1776.

James Monroe, 18

Henry Lee III, 20

Aaron Burr, 20

John Marshall, 20

Nathan Hale, 21

Banastre Tarleton, 21

Alexander Hamilton, 21

Benjamin Tallmadge, 22

Robert Townsend, 22

Gouveneur Morris, 24

Betsy Ross, 24

James Madison, 25

Henry Knox, 25

Oops. The Canadians generation gap is hopelessly self inflicted. While America still retains a core culture, Trudeau has made sure Canada is seen more as a hotel than a nation. Bragging that Canada is a postmodern entity with no core culture (outside of hockey and equalization) he has demonized Canada’s founders as racist and genocidal by flying the Canadian flag at half mast for six months to assuage “settler guilt”. He has diluted the culture, importing millions who see Canada as a way stop to America or a place to launder money/ deal drugs.

He has glorified globalism through climate and gender agendas. He has continued his father’s alienation of the West and its energy industry. He has allowed the nation to be the world’s choice destination for laundering dirty money so that, now, few in the world trust the Canadian government on security and defence.

That’s seemingly okay with his aging core. Bu the question now is can 45-year-old CPC leader Pierre Poilievre ride the culture wave? Can he be bold and make its his own as Trump made 18-35 year olds his shock troops in 2024? Poilievre has done a sober, predictable rollout of policy.  What he needs, however, is to emulate Trump, showing the Liberals as geezers, the NDP as enablers and the decrepit media as propagandists. It’ll take courage. He won’t get CBC/ CTV/ G&M to help him quit so what?

Donald Trump is going to crucify the Libs/ NDP.  He wants to hear from a different partner in negotiations. Poilievre has to ignore the noise and negotiate a future that young Canadians can buy into.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. You can see all his books at brucedowbigginbooks.ca.