Who is Pierre Poilievre? Conservative leader who could become Canada’s next prime minister

Millions of Canadians are going to the polls on Monday to decide whether to continue the Liberal Party’s decade in power or give the Conservatives a chance at the helm of the country.

It is expected to be a tight race between Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney and opposition leader Pierre Poilievre. Carney called a snap election in March, not long after he was sworn in as prime minister following the resignation of Justin Trudeau.

But the election campaign has been overshadowed by Donald Trump, who has threatened to impose stiff tariffs and even annexe what he calls ‘the 51st state’.

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There are 343 seats in the House of Commons up for grabs, with 172 needed to win a majority government.

Preliminary results for the federal election are expected Monday night or Tuesday morning local time.

Who is Pierre Poilievre?

Born in 1979 to a 16-year-old single mother, Poilievre was adopted by two school teachers and raised in Calgary.

“They taught me that the promise of Canada was that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything,” Poilievre said about his adoptive parents.

He went on to study international relations at the University of Calgary, where he began his career in conservative politics.

In 2004, he won his first election as an MP at the age of 25. He continued to rise through the ranks of the Conservative Party before becoming leader in 2022, succeeding Erin O’Toole.

The Conservative Party leader has gained popularity with his promise to “put the country first” by rebuilding the military and by taking back control of Canada’s borders.

What are his chances?

Until a few months ago, Poilievre was poised for the biggest electoral victory in decades, but that was before Trump took office.

An ongoing trade war and threats by President Trump to make Canada the 51st state led to a surge in nationalism among Canadians.

Trump’s frequent attacks led Liberal leader Carney to reshape his electoral bid, which subsequently strengthened the party’s poll numbers.

The dominating 25-point lead once held by the Conservative Party completely fell apart by mid-March.

According to the final YouGov poll, the Liberal Party is set to win a “modest majority”.

Polls published by CBC News on Sunday showed the Liberals with a narrow lead, at 42.8% of the vote. Meanwhile, the conservatives gained 39.2%.

Who is he competing against?

Poilievre’s main competitor is the leader of the Liberal Party and current prime minister. Born in Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories, in 1965, he was raised in the Alberta city of Edmonton, the child of two educators.

Carney won a scholarship to study in the United States and pursued an intensive education in economics and finance, with degrees from Harvard and Oxford universities.

From there, Carney served as an executive at Goldman Sachs, with postings in London, Tokyo, and New York. He eventually returned to Canada and served as the country’s central bank governor from 2008 to 2013, during the depths of the financial crisis.

The economist continued his rise on the world stage, in 2014 becoming the first non-Briton to lead the Bank of England in the institution’s history.