Like Joe Rogan and all his followers, Jordan Peterson has more than a few problematic ideas about the world. They share something else in common: giving a platform to people who also make more than a few problematic statements. A recent example: Peterson’s interview with Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
With Canada’s next federal election happening in Oct. 2025 (or sooner, depending on what happens after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation), many believe Poilievre will win. But after hearing just a few of his beliefs, I’m one Canadian who is more than a little nervous.
Let’s start with Poilievre’s approach to multiculturalism. Every country should welcome people with open arms, and leaders should want newcomers to be able to live good lives and chase their dreams. Well, apparently that’s fine… if they forget their backgrounds. Poilievre said, “when they get here, they are Canadian first. Canada first. Leave the hyphens; we don’t need to be a hyphenated society.” That’s not a good look, Poilievre.
Besides his perplexing and vague idea for “the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history,” Poilievre’s desire to remain on the right wing is the scariest part of the interview. He’s upset about what he calls “this horrendous, utopian wokeism” aka being a kind-hearted and compassionate human being (but if I never hear the word “woke” again in this context, it will be too soon). He also believes the Trudeau government has an “extremely radical ideology.” It’s radical for women to be appointed to important Cabinet positions, to name just one thing Trudeau did.
Poilievre’s belief that he can fix the housing crisis is also an issue. He claims “no physical, geographic reason why Canada should struggle to supply people with great opportunities of home ownership and family formation.” You know, because Canada has so much land. So… just build more houses. This completely ignores how much houses cost and how a lot of people struggle to afford rent, let alone purchase their own property. Also, apparently you can’t have kids if you don’t own a house (tell that to all the parents and kids living happily in apartments).
In June 2024, the average Canadian house was $696,179. That’s a lot of money, but it gets even worse. The average Toronto house is projected to be more than $2 million by 2035. His idea that will definitely work? According to the CBC, if cities don’t build 15% more homes every year, they won’t get funding from the federal government. Why didn’t anyone try that before? Maybe if Canada is the 51st state, that problem can be solved.
If you watch the interview, which Peterson posted on his X account (if you can get through the whole thing, that is), you see a man talking without any emotion at all. Even if I were a Conservative Party supporter, I would never want to vote for someone who sounds so dry and passionless when talking about the country that they want to run and that they supposedly love.
Sadly, unless the Liberal Party elects a new leader who can beat Poilievre (which doesn’t appear to be likely), it looks like I’ll be saying Prime Minister Poilievre at some point in 2025. Can Trudeau (and his beautiful hair) come back?! Okay, so he’s not perfect and some of the criticism is fair, but I’d prefer a “Trudeau 2.0” (as Poilievre so nicely put it) than anyone who sits down with Peterson. But maybe I need to clean my room.
Published: Jan 6, 2025 02:34 pm