Pierre Poilievre's private-sector experience is thin but real: he did corporate collections for Telus, wrote for Alberta Report, and co-founded a political-consulting firm in 2003. He won a $10,000 essay contest on freedom and small government, and crashed a soap-box derby car into a shed in Manitoulin, Ontario.
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Well, you've heard it before, Pierre Poilievre has never had a job outside Parliament. But is that true? Let's fact-check it. First, he was almost named Jeff. His biological mother was a 16-year-old high school student and planned to name him Jeff before placing him in adoption. Actually, he's still called Jeff by a few people in his life. Instead, baby Jeff was adopted by two schoolteachers in Calgary, raised in a bilingual household, and became Pierre Marcel Poilievre. When he was 11, his parents separated and his dad came out as gay. And despite what you might think of Polyev's support of the LGBTQ community, reports say he and his dad maintained a good relationship. And yes, he did eventually meet his birth mother. She became a nurse in North Carolina. Second, he is a political nerd of the highest order. Most kids at 14, certainly I was just worried about algebra and acne. Polyev was attending Conservative Party meetings, for fun. It's true, he hurt his shoulder wrestling and he needed a hobby. By 16, he wasn't just interested in politics, he was in it. He was selling Reform Party memberships, knocking on doors for Jason Kenney, and serving on a riding association. Third, he won $10,000 for an essay on how to run the country. His essay was called Building Canada Through Freedom, and it focused on about what you think it would focus on: personal liberty, small government, less bureaucracy. It also called for term limits for MPs, which is a little ironic considering he's been in Parliament for 20 years. Fourth, he has had a scandal. Alright, scandal might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a story worth telling. At the Legion Branch 314 in Manitouk, Ontario, a young Polyev entered a soapbox derby race. He won, but not before making a sharp left turn, running off the track, and crashing his car into a metal shed. Word is, to this day at the Legion, he's known as "The Conservative Who Turned Left." Or at least that's how the lore goes. And now, the big one. A lot of people say that Poilievre has never held a real job outside Parliament, and while it is true that he spent most of his life in politics, he actually did work in the private sector, just not for very long. He briefly did corporate collections at Telus. He also worked as a journalist for Alberta Report, a now-defunct conservative magazine, and in 2003 he co-founded a political consulting firm with a business partner who later became an Alberta cabinet minister. So yes, he's worked outside Parliament, but let's not pretend he was laying bricks or managing a Tim Hortons. His private sector experience is like a vacation in Toronto: you were technically out of town, but did you really go anywhere? Poliev spent his life studying and then doing politics, but at some point, the kid knocking on doors for Jason Kenney has to answer a bigger question: What happens when the campaign ends? It's easy to slam the government. It's a lot harder to be the government. Canada's not a soapbox derby. You don't win by just crashing into things. Sooner or later, he'll have to prove he's not just the guy who can tear it all down. He's the guy who knows how to build.
