Is fear of Ford driving Poilievre's push for election?

Pierre Poilievre and Doug Ford don’t have a lot in common, except maybe their desire to hold elections early.

- SUSAN DELACOURT

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called this week for an "axe the tax election" this fall, and wrote a letter imploring NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to scrap his coalition with the Liberal government. "Or you will forever be known as 'Sell-Out Singh,' " he warned.

Yes, they are conservatives and chances are that the many Ontarians who have voted for Ford are likely leaning toward voting for the federal Conservatives when the next election comes.

Both leaders in their own ways would call themselves populists, too.

But that’s where Ford and Poilievre have very different approaches. Ford is what many would call a happy populist — a guy who just wants everyone to vote for him, whether that requires giving out his phone number or shovelling someone’s vehicle out of a snowbank.

Poilievre, on the other hand, seems happiest when shaking his fist at his enemies, rattling off all the ways in which the country has been broken by government. His press conference this week was a perfect example.

“Happy end of summer,” the Conservative leader greeted reporters gathered outside Parliament’s West Block. “But really, what’s there to be happy about after Justin Trudeau’s recent cabinet retreat?”