National Post columnist Sabrina Maddeaux said Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has picked up support among young people due to disillusionment with the Liberals. “It’s no secret that Millennials came out and voted him into office in 2015 in huge numbers, made a lot of promises, and he didn’t keep them,” said Maddeaux in a Saturday panel at the Canada Strong and Free Network Regional Conference. “A lot of what he says is very critical.”.Maddeaux acknowledged the other main reason is affordability. Housing prices have doubled since 2015, rents are soaring, and young people have said they cannot afford to live in Canada. When people talk about basic needs on the hierarchy of needs, she said it is can they feed themselves, pay for shelter, and raise a family. Some young people cannot afford to do that, and they have expressed support for the Conservatives because it is offering practical solutions. The Conservatives have been talking about affordability and the housing crisis. While some of these young people might not identify as Conservatives, she said they “feel seen and they feel heard and that counts for a lot right now.” She credited Poilievre for speaking to young people. She wrote about this when former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was courting young voters. The comments she received were about her being crazy and not believing her. When it comes to Millennials, she said they are at the age where voting habits solidify, so Conservatives have to connect with them. The columnist went on to say communicating to young people requires a different communications strategy. Many Conservative MPs have become pros on social media. By understanding social media, she said these MPs can be at the forefront of issues. What she said matters most is sharing lived experiences. Young people might want to see MPs who had trouble paying rent, cannot afford a home, and struggled to pay for their children’s schooling. She alleged young people believe there are Conservatives who relate to that. Since some people feel disaffected by policies put forward by the Liberals and NDP, she said Conservatives should offer common sense solutions. That message can be consistent across multiple policy areas. In elections, there is always one major ballot question. She predicted the issue for the next election will be the economy and affordability. Maddeaux said she is optimistic about the conservative movement. The movement has momentum right now. “It seems like we’re in an era of reinvigoration, and there are a lot of possibilities of what we want the party to look like going forward and form government in the next election,” she said. Crestview Strategy Partner Ginny Roth said young people are attracted to the Conservatives because of youthful MPs such as Shuv Majumdar (Calgary-Heritage, AB), Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, ON) and Adam Chambers (Simcoe North, ON). “Our peers in this movement who got involved in the party because they cared about foreign policy, fiscal policy, who in many cases were in the [Stephen] Harper government that achieved a lot of success on a lot of policy fronts,” said Roth. “They are there in a mission-oriented way, and that’s really inspirational for people in that age cohort to see themselves in those peers and those people.”.Roth confirmed she lived in Toronto neighbourhood Leslieville. While Leslieville often votes Liberal or NDP, she said young people in it are expressing interest in voting Conservative because of the solutions it is proposing. Hub editor-at-large Sean Speer started off the panel by saying the Conservatives have to communicate to different demographic groups to grow the movement. “I want to start with young people,” said Speer. “It’s a growing axiom that Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada are making tremendous inroads with young voters.”.Speer said Poilievre’s success with young voters made the Financial Times last week. He added this “makes Canada’s conservative movement a bit of an aberration in the Anglo-American world.” Poilievre said in April youth have to be able to buy homes to allow them to have dates over.READ MORE: Poilievre says young people need affordable housing to bring home dates“I asked a crowd in Vancouver what do you do if you’re 35 and you’re living in your mom’s basement?” he said. “And a lady said ‘Very carefully.’”
