Pierre Poilievre told the Winnipeg Jewish Review in an exclusive telephone interview Dec 18, 2024 that he will not tolerate and will “defund” “all of those with a woke anti-Semitic agenda” including at universities who receive federal funding, as well as all federally funded museums. He re-iterated that he plans to “defund” all “those who are imposing a radical, terrifying, toxic ideology” and this will apply to “everything that the federal government controls.” He stated “I will fire government officials throughout my administration who are imposing a toxic woke ideology.”
Poilievre said under a future Poilevre administration, “there will be a crackdown on all terrorist networks that Trudeau has allowed on our streets.” He said that laws would be passed that give serious consequences to those involved in perpetuating radicalism in our streets. “We will also screen incoming immigrants” to Canada to ensure that they “have no terrorist links, “he added.
Poilievre noted that under a future Poilevre administration antisemities would not receive federal funding. He made reference to the example of Laith Marouf. The Department of Canadian Heritage in November 2023 had to take legal action to recoup funds it paid to a consultant, Laif Marouf. The federal government had to terminate a contract with the Community Media Advocacy Centre after it granted the group more than $122,000 for projects to help combat racism. It demanded the money back after Laith Marouf, a senior consultant with the centre, was accused of posting antisemitic content on X. One of Marouf’s posts read: “You know all those loud mouthed bags of human feces, a.k.a. the Jewish White Supremacists; when we liberate Palestine and they have to go back to where they come from, they will return to being low voiced bitches of thier (sic) Christian/Secular White Supremacist Masters.”
Regarding the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, Poilievre stated “The Museum will be there to honour our history and to tell our stories, not to impose toxic woke ideologies against our people.
Poilievre stated that “shuls” will be protected since he will “re-inforce security infrastructure grants by “expanding the eligibility for funds” and “simplifying” things such that funding will be granted more quickly.
In regard to Israel, Poilievre noted that “I will remove any ban on the sale of military equipment to Israel” that was imposed by the Trudeau government. He added that “I do not recognize the legitimacy of the ICC [International Criminal Court] and Prime Minister Netanyahu would be welcomed here [in Canada] as a friend,” and an “ally.”
Poilievre has stated elsewhere in regard to PM Trudeau’s statement that Netanyahu would be arrested on Canadian soil, “It just shows once again how extreme Justin Trudeau has become. He wants to arrest the prime minister of Israel while he would not commit to the same for the Ayatollah of Iran, whose country and whose government carried out a real genocide against Sunni Muslims I might add in Syria over the last decade and a half who said he wants to launch nuclear weapons not only at Israel but at the United States. Trudeau’s not interested in arresting him, but is interested in arresting the leader of a democratically elected government, the state of Israel, which has been besieged by terrorists and foreign tyrants attacking its land. It’s another example of how radical Justin Trudeau is, how this extreme woke agenda, it permeates everything he does and that’s why we need to fire him and get back to a common sense Conservative government that will stand with all our allies against terrorism and tyrants.
AM640 with Greg Brady – LINK
Regarding the economy, when asked about what adjustments he would make to cut the federal deficit, Poilievre responded that he would cut “bureaucracy’ and, “outside consultants”, and “corporate welfare.” (Corporate welfare refers to government financial assistance, subsidies, tax breaks, or other favorable policies provided to private businesses including multi-national companies, or to specific industries. Detracters say it does not actually spur the economy and means that avarage taxpayers have to fund this financial assistance).
Poilievre also stated “I will defund UNRWA” (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and “look for other ways to cut global bureaucracy and bring our money home to fund our own military.” Under former Prime Minister Harper, Canada cut payments to UNRWA, which were restored under Trudeau. (Some 24 UNRWA employees working in some 24 schools belonging to UNRWA in Gaza have been identified as Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad members, the New York Times reported in December 2024 , citing a Hamas document provided by the Israeli government. According to the confidential document, most of these UNRWA employees served in Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. Additionally, a majority had important roles in UNRWA schools, serving as principals or deputy principals.Tthe UN agency did not fire Hamas terrorists after tunnels were uncovered within or near its schools.)
Poilievre has been on a hitchhiking trip to Israel in his youth and has also stated that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel, not colonizers. “The Jewish people are the only people I know of who, in the same language, worship the same faith on the same land in the same country as they did 3,000 years ago. That is a true indigenous people.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pierre-poilievre-middle-east-synagogue-1.7160436.
On that trip to Israel, Poilievre stayed in a kibbutz near Ein Gedi, a nature reserve located near Masada and the Dead Sea, and stood in the Golan Heights in the north, where he watched missiles being fired from Lebanon.
When asked when he thought the next federal election would occur, Poilevre answered that is “up to Jagmeet Singh.”