Trudeau seems to think Poilievre's 'broken Canada' message is a point of vulnerability

The conventional wisdom in politics is that you should avoid repeating the charge made against you. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now broken that rule on multiple occasions — twice during his remarks to the Liberal convention in Ottawa on Thursday night.

He first defied conventional wisdom in 2015 when the Conservatives were loudly claiming Trudeau was "just not ready." Trudeau took on that accusation directly, turned it around and made rebutting it a major theme of his successful election campaign. Given how well that worked out, it's perhaps not surprising that Trudeau is willing to confront his tormentors directly now.

On Thursday night — with his shirt sleeves rolled up and his top button undone — Trudeau looked directly into the camera and told Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre it's time to "wake up." That crowd-pleasing portion of the prime minister's speech took on the Conservative complaint that the Liberal government is too "woke."

It seemed intended to stiffen Liberal spines and perhaps encourage a conversation about what exactly Poilievre objects to when he uses the term "woke." Trudeau practically invited Poilievre to clarify whether his opposition to "woke" things extends to gender-balanced cabinets and expanding access to affordable child care.

"As progressives, let's be confident about what we stand for," Trudeau said.

Trudeau's speech to Liberals was also of a piece with his reply to Poilievre's charge that Canada is "broken" — something Trudeau has been attacking explicitly almost since the moment Poilievre first levelled the criticism last fall.

Tactically, Trudeau might believe his opponent has overreached, like a boxer who has lunged and left himself open to a counterpunch. Politically, Trudeau may realize it's the central argument he needs to rebut if he hopes to be re-elected again after more than seven years in office. It might also touch a nerve with Trudeau's most romantic notions about what Canada is and could be.

"This is Canada. It's not broken," he said on Thursday night. "But we're Liberals. And we know that in Canada, better is always possible."

All roads lead to St. Thomas

Trudeau likes the idea that Canada can be a progressive example to the world and on Thursday night, he cited the testimony of recent visitors from afar. The Japanese prime minister, Trudeau reported, had "said that he looks to what we're doing to build an economy that leaves no one behind." The German chancellor, he said, "talked at length about our values of compassion and diversity." In the case against Canada's alleged brokenness, these were the character witnesses.

But for Trudeau, Exhibit A is now St. Thomas, Ontario — the small town in what used to be Canada's manufacturing heartland that will soon be home to a Volkswagen gigafactory. Trudeau twice cited that project on Thursday night and he made sure to note that Poilievre has seemed less than enthusiastic about it.

"He doesn't seem interested in building strong communities," Trudeau said. "He's too busy building anger."

That the federal government is prepared to provide up to $13 billion over the next ten years in subsidies for that battery plant surely played no small part in Volkswagen's decision to set up shop in St. Thomas. But during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York last week, Trudeau argued that it was about far more than that.

In Trudeau's telling, Volkswagen was drawn to what else Canada could offer: clean electricity, a strong social safety net (that now includes child care and dental care), high levels of immigration, an educated workforce, abundant resources and a government that can form partnerships with Indigenous communities.

In that way, the gigafactory in St. Thomas is meant to tie together much of what Trudeau has been trying to do over the last seven years, and much of what he wants Canadians to see in the present and future of their country.

There are obvious holes in this argument. Trudeau acknowledged that on Thursday night.

"Now, we all know that our opponents will try to clip some of my words out of context tomorrow to make it sound as if we think that everything is just fine," he said. "But that is not what I'm saying."

Later, he listed some of the "work" that still needs to be done: making housing more affordable, bringing clean drinking water to all Indigenous communities, expanding mental health supports, helping those dealing with substance abuse, reforming and improving the health care system.

To that list, Conservatives and pundits would no doubt add a variety of other concerns: foreign interference, lingering inflation, overriding doubts about the government's ability to transparently and effectively manage the important affairs of the state.

Those who want to believe the country is "broken" aren't running short of material.

Trudeau's attack on 'brokenist' politics

Trudeau told Liberals that "Pierre Poilievre's populism" does not offer "serious solutions to the serious challenges we're facing." Stephen Harper has actually advised Poilievre to avoid offering policy proposals for now.

Until he does, Poilievre's lack of solutions will remain the most glaring weakness in his argument that Canada is broken. While Poilievre is very skilled at identifying things to be angry about, it's not apparent that he has any better ideas.

That Poilievre would even suggest that Canada is broken has become part of Trudeau's argument against the Conservative leader.

"We want to build things up," Trudeau said on Thursday night, "while Pierre Poilievre and his 'brokenist' Conservative party want to tear things down." 

If Trudeau hopes to win a fourth term, he has to convince Canadians that the alternative is unappetizing. And significant portions of the prime minister's 30-minute speech were dedicated to making that case.

But Trudeau's current path seems to go right through the idea that this country is broken. As with "just not ready," the line of attack is ultimately directed at him — but more than ever the attack is about the current state and future of the country. Perhaps it's on those grounds that Trudeau, who can't hope to have the same personal appeal he had eight years ago, still believes he has the advantage.

"We need to show Canadians every day that our plan is grounded in a better sense of what the future holds for all of us," he told Liberals.

Trudeau has never lacked for aspiration. His re-election may depend on giving Canadians enough reason to believe that the future he envisions is actually being achieved.