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Joe Rogan caused waves in certain Canadian political circles this past week when he revealed that he had invited Pierre Poilievre onto his podcast but Poilievre’s team declined. My colleague Mark Daniell wrote the story up for the Toronto Sun detailing that the Conservative leader was approached by several American media outlets and said no to all of them.
“I offered to have that Pierre guy come on the podcast. He didn’t do it. Wouldn’t do it. Thought it was too problematic,” Rogan said.
He went on to say that Jordan Peterson had been involved in trying to make the appearance happen and then went on to call Poilievre a “dumbass” for refusing to appear.
I can confirm that several others approached Poilievre’s team directly or through intermediaries including Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck’s team, the Nelk Boys from the Full Send Podcast and Fox News. It would be likely that more left leaning outlets like CNN and the major networks also sought interviews given their interest in Canadian politics of late.
As I told Daniell for his piece in the Sun, the decision to turn down all of these offers was not an oversight.
“There was a conscious decision to avoid American media. They felt they had enough to deal with in Canada, and some thought there would be a big backlash from Canadian media outlets if they spoke to any conservative media personalities in the United States,” Lilley said.
Ben Shapiro told me months ago, when the Conservatives were still well ahead in the polls, that he had been trying to book an interview with Poilievre with no luck. A friend described how he had tried to assist in getting Poilievre to agree to join the Nelk Boys on Full Send but never heard back.
Were these the right decisions?
While I think Poilievre should have accepted the offers, I can also understand the hesitation on the part of the campaign. When the Conservatives were 15-20 points ahead, there was no upside to going on their shows and podcasts, they didn’t need them.
When things changed and the main issue for many voters became Donald Trump, tariffs, fear or anger with America, then going on these podcasts came with tremendous possible downside.
Look at the reaction of the mainstream media to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appearing on stage with Shapiro at an event in Florida. She faced weeks of headlines before the event calling on her to cancel, Shapiro was described as “far-right” and “controversial” time and again.
“Danielle Smith has ‘great time’ with Ben Shapiro at controversial far-right fundraiser,” read the only semi-positive headline that CTV could give the event.
Shapiro has 7.8 million followers on X, he has 9.4 million followers on Facebook, his show is watched or listened to by more people that any Canadian media outlet and many of his followers are Canadian. The day after he appeared on stage with Premier Smith, he was on his show once again explaining why tariffs are bad – exactly the message Smith and all of Canada needed.
None of that mattered, CBC ran a fear mongering piece about the meet up and would have voters who rely on the mainstream media fearful that Smith was consorting with the enemy.
So, that’s the dilemma that Poilievre faced.
The Conservatives were losing voters 55+ who were fearful of Trump and who are more likely to rely on mainstream media for news. Showing up on Rogan, Shapiro, Beck or Full Send during the election would have exposed him to plenty of Canadian voters, but then he would have faced endless MSM stories about appearing with so-called far-right and controversial people.
Meanwhile, Mark Carney announced his bid for the Liberal leadership on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, appeared on CNN, BBC, the Anthony Scaramucci podcast, Scott Galloway’s podcast and more. He spent more time doing interviews with foreign media than Canadian media. Outside of writing from myself at the Toronto Sun, I’m not sure I heard much criticism of Carney for that.
But sure, tell me there is no media bias in favour of the Liberals and against the Conservatives.
I think Poilievre and his Conservative team do need to spend more time talking to Canadian media and doing Canadian media interviews, even appearing on CBC. That said, I think that they should start talking to more alternative media in this country, and yes south of the border.
My advice to them, if they take this route, lean in and ignore the criticism.
