PIERRE POILIEVRE

THE CROWD-PULLER

There is no question that Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre is sucking all the oxygen from the room for his leadership opponents.

Not only is he attracting huge crowds in areas that traditionally do not vote Conservative, but his attacks against the elites and the “gatekeepers” have them clutching their pearls. He makes no excuses about going after his opponents with sometimes vicious attack ads that have Tories wondering what this party will look like if he wins the leadership race.

“No matter what's been thrown out (by) the press or by his opponents in this race, the crowds aren't stopping. And I think that's probably the most impressive part. I think he's unquestionably the front-runner at this point,” said Chris Chapin, a veteran of Conservative leadership races and managing principal of the Upstream Strategy Group communications firm in Toronto.

People are driving anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours to see Poilievre speak and get a chance to take a picture or chat with him, according to sources. And the numbers don't lie: he managed to gather more than 1,000 people in the Liberal stronghold of Toronto, 1,200 in Windsor, 450 in Timmins.

“The Conservative Party has not seen crowds like that ever in my history of being part of the conservative movement,” said Jenni Byrne, senior adviser to the Poilievre campaign.

Poilievre is a notorious door knocker and would routinely inform the party of issues that would arise well ahead of time. And his social media game was strong even before Jeff Ballingall, founder of Canada Proud, joined the team.

Even though his policies have been criticized by opponents for being too simplistic or dangerous, his pitch is appealing to Canadians who feel like they've been left behind with the cost of everything going up with inflation and higher interest rates.

“He's done an extraordinary job in tapping into that kind of populist sentiment where the elites in the country are causing the problems and keeping the little man under their foot. And that includes bringing to light some complex, but very important issues to regular Canadians on things like affordability, inflation, housing,” said Michael Solberg, former Conservative staffer.

With many months still to go until the vote, the challenge for Poilievre will be to keep that momentum going.