'People close to Trump have respect for Poilievre,' says Tory candidate for Montreal riding
In an interview with Fox News last week, Trump said that Poilievre was 'stupidly, no friend of mine.'
Author of the article:
Article content
N.D.G.–Westmount Conservatives have picked a candidate who said last month that key Trump adviser Elon Musk holds leader Pierre Poilievre in high esteem — and that a Conservative MP’s close relationship with J.D. Vance is a bonus.
“People close to (Donald) Trump have respect for Pierre Poilievre,” said lawyer Neil Drabkin, who is listed on the Conservative party website as the candidate in the Montreal riding. “Elon Musk, in particular, who has become the bestie with Mr. Trump … has said very favourable things about Mr. Poilievre. And perhaps we don’t need to go further than that kind of relationship for Mr. Musk to whisper in the ear of Mr. Trump.”
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
'People close to Trump have respect for Poilievre,' says Tory candidate for Montreal riding Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Neil Drabkin, who has previously run under the Conservative banner and worked for the government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, made the comments in a Feb. 7 edition of CJAD radio’s The Big Five.
Drabkin told host Elias Makos that Musk, now a key player in the Donald Trump White House, “respects” Pierre Poilievre and that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is “very close to” Conservative MP Jamil Jivani — both of whom he said better position Poilievre to end the escalating trade war.
In an interview with Fox News last week, Trump said a Liberal government would be easier to work with and that Poilievre was “stupidly, no friend of mine.”
“I think it’s easier to deal, actually, with a Liberal and maybe they’re going to win, but I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter to me at all,” Trump said in that interview. Following the interview’s broadcast, Poilievre posted on X that he would be a “tough negotiator and always put Canada first.”
Drabkin framed Trump-imposed tariffs as stemming from a conflict between “the Liberal government and Mr. Trump.”
“If we’re able to (resolve) that with relationships that we build with people that are close to Mr. Trump, including Mr. Musk, then that’s what we need to be able to do,” he said.
Poilievre’s opponents, including Liberal Leader Mark Carney, have frequently accused him of alignment with Trump. Those accusations have ramped up in recent days after a March 8 interview with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith resurfaced, grabbing headlines. Speaking with far-right U.S. media outlet Breitbart, the Conservative premier said she had asked U.S. officials to pause tariffs on Canada to help Poilievre win the election.
In the Feb. 7 broadcast, Drabkin said closer ties between a new prime minister and the Trump administration would benefit Canadians.
“The reason we’re in this situation is because there’s a profound lack of respect for this Liberal government, and that’s why the president’s talking about us becoming the 51st state. If there’s respect for the prime minister in Ottawa and the government of the day, then we will not have this kind of issue that we’re having now,” he said.
When asked by fellow guest and Noovo commentator Meeker Guerrier why he saw friendliness with Musk as a positive, Drabkin said it could help end the tariff threat.
Trump “has respect for Elon Musk,” he said. “And Elon Musk has respect for Mr. Poilievre to form a Canadian government. That will go miles in order to do away with this issue, and there won’t need to be a (trade) war at that point.”
The Gazette has reached out to Drabkin and the Conservative party for comment.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.