Pierre Poilievre: Quick facts about the Conservative leadership candidate
OTTAWA — One could say Pierre Poilievre has grown up on Parliament Hill. Elected as a member of Parliament at just 25, he quickly earned a reputation for being a political pit bull with his ideologically-driven, combative performances in debates. He is deeply popular among the Conservatives’ grassroots and over the years has amassed one of the largest social media followings of any Canadian politician.
Born: Poilievre was born June 3, 1979. He was adopted by his parents Marlene and Don Poilievre, teachers from Saskatchewan who were married two years earlier and moved to Calgary. Poilievre says he was born in Calgary to a 16-year-old girl who couldn’t raise a child and whose own mother had died recently. He has a brother named Patrick.
Early years: Poilievre says he had a normal, middle-class childhood. His parents divorced when he was a teenager and he spent his youth playing competitive sports such as football, hockey and wrestling. He says when a bout of tendinitis in his shoulder left him recovering at home, he asked his mother if he could join her at a Progressive Conservative meeting. Thus his love for politics was born.
Before politics: After graduating high school, he went to the University of Calgary, where he earned an undergraduate degree in international relations. But politics was never far away — the young Poilievre served as president of his campus Conservative club. He went to Ottawa in 2002 to work as a political staffer for Stockwell Day, then a member of the Canadian Alliance. Poilievre also briefly ran a political consulting firm with friend and former Alberta cabinet minister Jonathan Denis in his early 20s.