Michelle Ferreri

Canada is in trouble.

Youth unemployment is at historic highs. Housing has never been less affordable. Food prices keep rising while other countries see them fall. Productivity and GDP have dropped. Trade deals are collapsing. Crime is up. Immigration is chaotic. Division is deepening. And when Canadians ask for the facts, like how many people are actually arriving, Ottawa won’t tell us.

We’ve normalized a Canada where life is unaffordable, where “just getting by” feels inevitable. It’s not normal.

Instead of delivering results, our leaders deliver empty words. Too often, voters choose likability over capability, electing the charming and relatable candidate instead of the competent. Remember the guy with the nice hair and fun socks? He wasn’t it, in case you missed the memo.

Ask yourself: is your life better? Is it getting better?

I once watched an old Olympic rowing race where the coxswain, the boat’s captain, was the decisive factor. He pushed his crew when they had nothing left, inspired them when it mattered most, and called the exact distance to the finish: “250 metres to go.” That’s the kind of captain Canada needs right now.

We are in our final 250 metres. The training has been gruelling. The loss of the 2025 election was a blow, but losing is where the most important growth happens. Defeat builds resilience, innovation, and character, the hallmarks of a great leader.

Pierre Poilievre is different. He’s not warm and fuzzy. He doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. And that’s exactly why he’s the right leader for this moment. He is precise, intelligent, and effective. If you dislike him, ask yourself honestly why. If it’s because of his tone or his look, that’s not good enough. Canada needs capability, not cosmetics.

We must regain our place on the world stage. That means unlocking our resources, creating jobs and housing for young Canadians, restoring safety to our streets, fixing immigration, and ending the punishing taxes that make work feel pointless. We need to rebuild unity, end censorship and media subsidies, and replace survival with prosperity.

Pierre will win the Battle River–Crowfoot by-election, my prediction is around 67%, and return to the House of Commons with the same fierce determination to expose the truth. Remember when the Liberals told you the carbon tax didn’t make life expensive, and Pierre proved it did? That’s the difference between rhetoric and results.

Some will say if he doesn’t win by 80%, it’s a loss. That’s political theatre. Pierre is the biggest threat to those in power, and they’re using every tool they can to take him out. The “longest ballot” committee is election interference, and it must be fully investigated.

The people hold the power, but only if they have the right information and I know how overwhelming it is with so much information and opinions, how do you know who to believe anymore? You have to focus on results. Is your life better? Do your kids have opportunity? Is Canada in a position of strength?

We’re 250 metres from the finish line. We can’t give up now.

I believe Canadians know our country can do better, not just for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren. The road will be hard, but nothing worth doing is easy.

I believe Canada can do better.
I believe in Canadians.
And I believe the leader who can take us from survival to strength is Pierre Poilievre.

Michelle Ferreri is a political commentator, strategic communications and media consultant, and the former Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha