Canada PM frontrunner once vowed to make the country a ‘crypto capital’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to resign from the country’s top position 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 resurfaced online, Poilievre purchased a 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 also said Bitcoin could help Canadians “opt out” of inflation — comments which subjected him to Liberal Party attack ads in late 2023 after the crypto market drastically fell over that year.

Poilievre has led the Conservative Party since 2022, 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 to X to back a bill that would ban a central bank digital currency and protect the use of cash.

Related: Polymarket users bet on Canadian PM resigning before official announcement 

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 reportedly no longer appeared by November 2023.

Trudeau said on Jan. 6 he would resign as the Liberal Party leader — and, therefore, the 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 Donald Trump.

A federal election will need to be called on or before Oct. 20, and the winning prime minister’s party will need to get 172 seats out of the 343 available in the House of Commons to secure a majority government.

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