“Congratulations to President Trump on successfully arresting narco-terrorist and socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro who should live out his days in prison…Down with socialism. Long live freedom,” read Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s congratulatory post on X (formerly Twitter) regarding Donald Trump’s recent kidnapping of the Venezuelan President and his wife. Both were brought to New York where they will stand trial for drug trafficking charges and possession of an automatic weapon.  

The statement came just hours after the extraordinary move by the United States. The tweet speaks volumes about Poilievre’s suitability to be prime minister. It also came just weeks before his mandatory leadership review at the Conservative Party of Canada. A play to the base perhaps? It’s helpful to be reminded how uniquely unqualified he is to lead Canada; he would literally say anything to stay on as leader of his party. If there were another Freedom Convoy in Ottawa tomorrow, he would be there in a heartbeat in a cowboy hat flipping burgers. 

This editorial is not an endorsement of Maduro. Venezuela has long suffered under the illegitimate dictatorship of Maduro, and before him, Hugo Chavez. Aligning himself with drug cartels, Maduro, led a brutally oppressive regime. The Venezuelan people have suffered for decades. But, thanks to Trump, the government is still in place, minus the leader. There has been no purge; the apparatus of corruption and abuse remains.

Calling for adherence to an international rule of law, respect for sovereignty, and multilateralism, Prime Minister Mark Carney reminded Canadians that Canada never supported Maduro’s “illegitimate” regime and called for a “Venezuelan-led transition anchored in the sovereign right of the people to decide their own future.” 

Trump holds such niceties in low regard. He is a wannabe strongman with no clear plan. Trump claimed he is now running Venezuela and recently said that the country’s vast oil reserves will be under “indefinite U.S. control.” This was not just a police action. It’s theft; a mafia move expanding turf. Trump also mused recently about taking control of Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, and Greenland. This is the person whose actions Poilievre chooses to praise. 

Why did the Conservative leader end his tweet with “Down with socialism, long live freedom”? Was the Maduro regime advocating universal health care, rights to collective bargaining, climate action, school lunch programs, an inclusive tolerant society, bike lanes perhaps? Nope, none of the above. That sounds more like Canada. Is Poilievre, really saying down with Canada? That would be consistent with his brand of Canadian self-loathing that he is naturally predisposed to espouse. Reminds one of the last federal election, when at every opportunity he wanted to tell voters that “Canada is broken.” It is the endless attacks on our own identity that is hard to get behind.

Our prime minister, on the other hand, is more measured. When he was first elected in March 2025, Mark Carney made this statement about Maduro: “One of the first actions taken by Canada’s new government was to impose additional sanctions on Nicolás Maduro’s brutally oppressive and criminal regime—unequivocally condemning his grave breaches of international peace and security, gross and systematic human rights violations, and corruption.”

It’s apparently possible for contradictory positions to both be true; one can oppose Maduro’s leadership and Trump’s actions in the same breath, as both are unacceptable. 

Assuming Poilievre receives a healthy endorsement from his party later this month, he should consider ways to make himself more electable beyond his base. At a recent Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner Poilievre told those gathered that a pollster said he could improve his public image by working to engage meaningfully with people’s concerns. Or, he could just get a dog. So, he immediately called the pollster and said “What kind of dog?”

While that’s funny, it’s also probably true. He’s not a leader that a country like Canada would want to call its own.

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