Pierre Poilievre slammed for “masquerading as working class hero”
Categories: Canada
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre has gained a bit of virality online, but not in the way he might like.
On Tuesday, Liberal MP Sean Fraser shared a clip of his rebuttal to Poilievre during Question Period on X. It has since garnered hundreds of thousands of views and has been shared on several social media platforms.
“Hot take: if you’re going to be a champion for workers, you might want to actually talk to them first,” reads Fraser’s post on X.
In the clip, the housing minister accuses the leader of the opposition of “masquerading across the country as a working class hero” while not really understanding working-class jobs.
He gave the example of recent speeches where Poilievre suggests that “electricians capture electricity from the sky” and that welders “weld with their bare hands.”
“What’s he going to tell me next? The fishermen in my community dive beneath the ocean and catch them with their bare teeth?” asked Fraser, which was met with laughter at the House of Commons.
“If he wants to represent the interests of the working class, he should talk to a person who has a real job,” he added.
Hot take: If you’re going to be a champion for workers, you might want to actually talk to them first. pic.twitter.com/ODX3IXezb3
— Sean Fraser (@SeanFraserMP) April 16, 2024
Some X users have the receipts if you need proof of Poilievre’s questionable interpretation of working-class jobs.
PressProgress editor Luke LeBrun found four separate events where the politician claimed that electricians “capture lightning from the sky, runs it through a copper wire” to power our lights.
Pierre Poilievre has claimed on four separate occasions that electricians are capturing “lightning from the sky” and running it through a copper wire to power lightbulbs. https://t.co/Oq0t5VqXZp pic.twitter.com/Wgk9AyFGht
— Luke LeBrun (@_llebrun) January 3, 2024
Professor Stéphanie Chouinard called out Poilievre’s remark that welders can “fuse together metals” with their “bare hands.”
“My dad’s a welder. You know what he would call a welder who works with his bare hands?
A moron,” she posted on X. “Tell me you’re trying to appeal to the blue-collar class while knowing nothing of the blue-collar class.”
My dad’s a welder.
You know what he would call a welder who works with his bare hands?
A moron.
Tell me you’re trying to appeal to the blue-collar class while knowing nothing of the blue-collar class. https://t.co/hYQpnXNrKj— Stéphanie Chouinard (@DrSChouinard) April 11, 2024
Of course, there has been a lot of reaction to these clips online.
Many agreed with Fraser’s comments.
“Fraser said what most of the sane people are thinking. Poilievre is a leech trying to disguise himself as some kind of working class hero,” reads one Reddit comment.
Comment
byu/Miserable-Lizard from discussion
inonguardforthee
“Normally, I don’t support personal attacks in any form… But Poilievre is a bully who constantly attacks others; It’s satisfying to see him get a taste of his own medicine,” added another.
Comment
byu/xzry1998 from discussion
inonguardforthee
Others went to the opposition leader’s defence.
“Marking down Sean Fraser as a man who does not understand hyperbolic language and someone who doesn’t have a real job,” replied one X user to Fraser’s post.
Marking down Sean Fraser as a man who does not understand hyperbolic language and someone who doesn’t have a real job.
— Kat Kanada (@KatKanada_TM) April 17, 2024
“Like you care about the working classes,” another person chimed in.
Like you care about the working classes
— Tony Toni Toné (@TonyToniTone47) April 16, 2024
What’s your take on this back-and-forth? Let us know in the comments.