‘Gutless’ CEOs Jolted by Attacks From Trudeau’s Surging Rival
- Pierre Poilievre is the clear frontrunner to win next election
- Conservative intends to tackle feeble business competiton
The crowd gathered on the 54th floor of TD Bank Tower, an imposing glass-and-steel edifice in Toronto’s financial district, was a who’s who of the Canadian business elite. There were CEOs and tech moguls and bankers who had paid as much as C$1,725 ($1,240) each for a chance to hear from Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party.
Poilievre isn’t your traditional Conservative leader or, for that matter, your typical Canadian. He’s brash and confrontational, even with his supporters in the C-suite. Weeks before this June fundraiser on Bay Street, he publicly ripped into CEOs in an opinion piece for failing to push back against the environmental policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the man he appears poised to defeat at the polls next year. “Gutless executives,” he’d written.