Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to resign has cast the spotlight on opposition leader and PM frontrunner Pierre Poilievre, who once promised to make the country a “crypto capital.”
In a March 2022 campaign event, a video of which has recently surfaced online, Poilievre purchased a chicken shawarma with Bitcoin (BTC) and promised a plan to “enable Canada to become the blockchain and crypto capital of the world.”
In a speech at the event, he attacked the central banking system and Canada’s crypto regulations. He said Bitcoin could help Canadians “opt-out” of inflation, comments that subjected him to Liberal Party attack ads in late 2023 after the crypto market plummeted.
Take control of your money.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 28, 2022
Become a member: https://t.co/d9I1ky9w2t #shawarmaforbitcoin https://t.co/QzqVT5nSSU
Since 2022, Poilievre has led the Conservative Party, which, as of Jan. 6, was 24 percentage points ahead of the ruling Liberals with a 98% chance of winning a majority, according to CBC News polling.
Poilievre has made other pro-crypto comments, including X posts in 2022 promising “freedom for buyers and sellers to choose [Bitcoin] and other technology.” He’s also called the Bank of Canada “financially illiterate” and vowed to stop it from making a “risky central bank digital currency.”
More recently, in April 2024, he posted on X to back a bill that would ban a central bank digital currency and protect the use of cash.
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In May 2022, CTV News reported that Poilievre’s asset disclosure forms showed he held shares in the Purpose Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) — a local spot Bitcoin ETF — which by November 2023 reportedly no longer appeared.
Trudeau said on Jan. 6 he would resign as the Liberal Party leader — and, therefore, as prime minister, and would step down once a replacement was found. Parliament is suspended until March 24, and the Liberals will likely vote on a new leader by then.
The outgoing PM was battered by an impending no-confidence motion slated for later this month amid internal party conflict over his handling of the country’s deficit and concern over how he’d handle a barrage of tariffs promised by US President-elect Donald Trump.
A federal election must be called on or before Oct. 20, and the winning party will need 172 seats out of the 343 available in the House of Commons to secure a majority government.
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