Poilievre’s emphasis on the cost of living increases support for conservative youth ahead of the contentious Canadian election

The Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s emphasis on the expense of living in the run-up to Canada’s tight election has increased popularity among young Canadians.

At a union headquarters north of Toronto, Canadian country music blared as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre came onto the stage for a rally.

“Who in Canada is voting for change?” he said.

The 45-year-old professional politician Poilievre then sparked nostalgia for the 1970s by stating that, in Canada, a mortgage could be paid off in seven years as opposed to the decades it would presently take in some cities.

Due in large part to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s harsh criticism of US President Donald Trump, the opposition Conservatives, who held a 20-point lead in polls just months ago, are predicted to lose Monday’s election to Carney’s Liberals.

One demographic of voters, however, is responding favorably to Poilievre’s emphasis on the expense of living: young people, particularly young men.

According to an April 24 Nanos poll, 49.3% of voters between the ages of 18 and 34 favor the Conservatives, while only 30% favor the Liberals. The Liberals had a 42.9% to 39.3% lead when all age groups were taken into account. The poll, which was filtered for men of all ages, revealed that 45.5% of them preferred the Conservatives, while 36.7% preferred the Liberals.

It is regarded as accurate 19 times out of 20 with a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points, and it polled 1,307 Canadians between April 21 and 23.

After over ten years of Liberal leadership under Justin Trudeau, which Poilievre frequently refers to as the “lost Liberal decade,” Poilievre represents change to Canadians under the age of thirty-five. Their main concerns are not ties with the United States, but how to afford a house and other living expenditures.

Since assuming office in March, Carney has disassociated himself from Trudeau’s initiatives.

At his third Poilievre demonstration, Joshua Dwyer, 24, a first-year journalism student at Toronto Metropolitan University, said, “I’ve lived through the struggle of trying to get groceries, paying your bills, and trying to save and start a family.” “Under the Liberal government, it is ineffective. After ten years of trying, it doesn’t work.

Recent days have seen a tightening of the polls, and Poilievre has attracted sizable crowds to these rallies. Youth turnout, especially in the most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, could be crucial to an upset by Poilievre or to deciding whether the Liberals receive a majority in Parliament or must rely on support from other parties to rule, even though voter intention and large crowds do not always translate into seats in Canada’s electoral system. Voting has historically been lowest among young people.

Conservative youth TikTok accounts are promoting a trend on the platform that urges young conservatives to persuade their parents to vote for Poilievre, given the generational divide. Liberals have attempted to draw comparisons between Trump and Poilievre’s populist policies, which include dismantling city homeless camps, cutting off government support for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and preventing the media from accompanying him on the campaign trail.

About 20 minutes into his rally in Vaughan, Poilievre made just one reference to Trump.

A request for comment was not immediately answered by his campaign team.