Canada’s election is about to have an Elon Musk problem with Trudeau’s exit | Canada

The decision by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, this week to resign as head of the Liberal party has set in motion a leadership race against the backdrop of a looming general election, which will be held amid political turmoil triggered by Donald Trump’s “America first” economic nationalism. It has also given Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, an opportunity to inject himself into yet another country’s political turmoil.

Since Trudeau’s resignation on Monday, Musk has posted repeatedly about Canadian politics on X – the platform formerly known as Twitter he bought in 2022 for $44bn. He has praised clips of Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative party, while relishing in Trudeau’s downfall and engaging with rightwing Canadian influencers.

Trump and Musk have been promoting the idea of Canada becoming part of the United States, something that every major Canadian party leader, including Poilievre, has rejected. Trudeau posted on Tuesday that there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell” of Trump’s proposal becoming reality.

“Girl, you’re not the governor of Canada anymore, so doesn’t matter what you say,” Musk tweeted in response in the middle of the night on Tuesday.

Musk’s posts are emblematic of his expanding attempts to influence global politics over the last year, during which he has formed alliances with a number of rightwing populist leaders, amplified far-right influencers and obsessively voiced conservative grievances. After spending more than $200m to back Trump’s re-election campaign, he has also positioned himself as a key figure in shaping US policy decisions and forced foreign leaders to take his provocations seriously.

Outside the United States, most of Musk’s attention has been aimed at the UK, where he recently reignited a furore over a child sexual abuse scandal while promoting anti-immigrant views and accused the prime minister, Keir Starmer, of being “complicit in the rape of Britain”. Musk has also exerted his influence into Germany’s upcoming elections, backing the far-right, anti-immigration AfD party in an op-ed and hosting its leader, Alice Weidel, in a livestream interview on his platform.

Musk’s intrusion into European politics has prompted leaders in the UK, France and Germany to speak out against his election interference and misinformation. Now it appears it is Canada’s turn to deal with the richest man in the world.

While Musk hovers in the background, Trudeau’s Liberal party will hold a leadership contest to replace him as prime minister and then likely call a general election shortly after.

Pumping up Poilievre

In a series of posts following Trudeau’s resignation, Musk has expressed support for Poilievre, whose Conservative party is widely expected to dominate Canada’s elections after three successive Liberal governments. Musk’s posts to his more than 200 million followers have already drawn comment from one major party leader, in a sign of how he may become an increasing factor as the country faces a year of political tumult.

“Elon Musk and other billionaires back Pierre Poilievre because if he wins, they’ll get richer,” Jagmeet Singh, the leader of Canada’s leftwing NDP, posted in response to Musk’s tweets.

When Poilievre was asked about Musk’s endorsement in a press conference on Thursday, he responded that “it would be nice if we could convince Mr Musk to open some of his factories here in Canada”. He also added a mention of Musk’s ambitions for space travel.

“My three-year-old has just told me he wants to go to Mars so I guess Mr Musk would be the right guy to put him in touch with,” Poilievre said. “If I ever get a chance to meet Mr Musk, what I would say is ‘how do we make this an economy where we bring home hundreds of billions of dollars of investment to Canada?’”

Poilievre fits the mould of other conservative politicians that have appealed to Musk. Once known as a combative, baby-faced member of parliament whom other lawmakers nicknamed “Skippy”, he has ditched his glasses and tie in recent years to take on a more populist persona. Casting himself as an opponent of “Trudeau’s woke authoritarian agenda”, the Alberta-born Poilievre has played into conspiratorial rhetoric about “globalist elites” and promised to reduce immigration while blaming the Liberal party for economic inflation.

Many of Poilievre’s talking points are reminiscent of ideas that Musk might promote himself, including embracing cryptocurrency, slashing government funding and creating a new punitive government position, a “free speech guardian”, with the power to withhold government grants to universities that don’t commit to protecting freedom of speech on campuses. Poilievre has also backed banning trans women from women’s bathrooms, change rooms and sports, and pledged to defund Canada’s national public broadcaster and news media.

Musk posted a clip from 2023 of Poilievre eating an apple while dismissively responding to a local news editor’s questions, calling it a “masterpiece”. The billionaire also praised a video of Poilievre talking about cutting spending and inflation. In a third post, Musk tweeted “great interview” while sharing Poilievre’s talk with rightwing commentator Jordan Peterson, in which the Conservative leader promised “the biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history”. Poilievre’s interview with Peterson drew condemnation from both the Liberal party and NDP over the fact that it was sponsored by a US-based, Christian anti-abortion group.

Polling from before Trudeau’s resignation showed that the Conservative party holds a significant advantage and that Canada may swing significantly to the right this year – even with a survey last month showing only 37% of Canadians view Poilievre himself in a favorable light.

Despite Musk’s endorsement, Poilievre may also face a balancing act of how closely to align himself with Trump, who remains a largely unpopular figure in Canada. A poll during the US presidential race found that only 21% of Canadians supported Trump’s re-election, while a separate poll in November found that only about 19% of Canadians trust Musk’s opinion on their country’s politics.

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Musk amplifies Canadian ideologues

Much like in the US, many of the Canadian political accounts Musk engages with tend to be deferential conservative media influencers whom he amplifies to his millions of followers.

In one post this week, Musk shared a misleading claim about Trudeau from far-right media entrepreneur Ezra Levant that was later corrected by a community note. Levant publishes Rebel News, a website whose contributors have included British anti-Islam extremist Tommy Robinson, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and a former top commentator, Faith Goldy, who was fired after appearing on a neo-Nazi podcast. Musk has also exchanged tweets with early “alt-right” Canadian influencer and former Rebel Media host Lauren Southern, who rose to notoriety creating anti-immigration YouTube videos and promoting the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory.

Jordan Peterson is another Canadian touchstone for Musk. In addition to sharing Peterson’s interview with Poilievre and occasionally exchanging tweets, Musk appeared on Peterson’s show last year – during which the tech mogul claimed that his trans child was “dead” and “killed by the woke mind virus” after receiving gender-affirming care. Vivian Wilson, Musk’s transgender daughter, replied that his characterization was false and that he was an absentee father.

Musk also frequently interacts on X with Gad Saad, a Canadian marketing professor who gained an online following through his writings and podcast appearances attacking what he calls “parasitic ideas that are destroying the West”.

“I read your insightful book on the parasitic woke mind virus,” Musk tweeted at Saad last year. “It gave me nightmares.”

Musk celebrates Trudeau’s resignation

As Musk has posted endorsements of Poilievre, he has also basked in Trudeau’s downfall. He shared a meme on Wednesday of an AI-generated Donald Trump playing mournful violin in the background of Trudeau’s resignation speech, as well as replied to his own old tweets that predicted Trudeau would lose power.

Musk expressed his opposition to Trudeau multiple times in recent years over issues such as Covid safety restrictions, most notably sharing a meme in 2022 that compared Trudeau to Hitler. Musk later deleted his tweet after condemnation from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust museum, but as recently as December was again calling for Trudeau’s political ouster.

Trudeau has been a target for rightwing media since long before Musk’s attacks, with far-right commentators such as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson dedicating segments portraying the prime minister as a sort of socialist dictator and Canada as a dystopian hellscape.

Inside Canada, the causes of Trudeau’s resignation are more complex. While he maintained a progressive sheen internationally, many Canadians across the political spectrum grew to find Trudeau’s persona cloying and hypocritical following domestic scandals. The rising cost of living and inflation along with fatigue over Liberal minority governments meanwhile lost his party significant support. The recent collapse of his cabinet, failures in byelections last year and threats of a no-confidence vote ended up being the death knell for his leadership.