It goes something like this: “When the tailgate drops, the bullshit stops.”

In other words, all the fun and games are over when things get serious on a hunt. When the tailgate to the pick-up truck drops, the dogs are let loose, the guns come out, all the trash talking and joking around leading up to that point are forgotten. The serious hunting begins. 

In political terms, the start of an election is when the political tailgate drops. That’s when the majority of Canadians start to lift up their heads, and really pay attention not only to what matters, but who is the adult in the room. 

That’s pretty much what this election turned on: Who is the adult in the room best equipped to meet the challenges facing Canada at home and abroad.

Last Monday, Canadians let Mr. Poilievre know it’s not him. Electors in Carleton also gave him the boot. So he’s off to southern Alberta, parachuting into Battle River-Crowfoot, the safest of safe Conservative ridings in all of Canada. 

It could have been a lot different. The strong push into the GTA by the Conservatives showed that Poilievre’s laser-like focus on crime, housing and cost-of-living resonated deeply with Canadians. 

His focus on energy security, pipelines and infrastructure upgrades all addressed key issues and proposed answers that matched or were better than anything the Mark Carney Liberals proposed. 

But at the end of the day, when the tailgate dropped with the writ on March 23^rd, the antics of the CPC Leader caught up to him. Serving coffee and doughnuts to convoy truckers who invaded your constituency is probably not a path to power. Munching on apples while bullying small-town journalists. Winking at WEF conspiracy theories. Turning your back on mainstream media. Picking fights with Conservative premiers. 

When we founded Centre Ice Canadians in August of 2022, we said time and time again that Canadians were more tired of Justin Trudeau than they were in love with Pierre Poilievre’s aggressive style of politics. 

Polling, and our own anecdotal experience, told us that most Canadians saw themselves as fitting in the centre while the main parties were drifting further and further to the extremes. 

We said the next election would be decided by which party could credibly show itself as racing back to the middle, both in tone and substance.

We were right. 

The Conservative policy platform receives a passing grade on substance. It was the tone from the leadership that sabotaged the election campaign. 

Most Canadians don’t follow day-to-day politics particularly closely. When they do tune in, they aren’t looking for a show. They are looking for an adult in the room who they can trust to take care of business until they tune in again in time for the next election. 

Justin Trudeau lost that trust (rightly, in our view) after nearly ten years at the helm. Conservatives said they were ready; they told us they were reading the room right. Alas, they were not, and their Leader couldn’t pivot fast enough to join the crowd. 

Even with a decade of Trudeau baggage weighing the Liberal brand down, Mark Carney was able to rebuild trust with Canadians faster than a Conservative Party that had been planning – and begging – for an election for more than a year.

What’s next? Mr. Carney will need pressure from a capable centre-right flank so as not to cave in under pressure from the strong progressive faction still alive and well in caucus. He is already signalling higher government debt and deficits without any obvious path to balance, and no guarantee of a return on those investments. 

It’s up to the Conservative caucus to decide if Mr. Poilievre is the right person to offer that pressure. Whether he stays or goes, there is an obvious need for a strong, credible small “c” conservative opposition that pushes for bolder and more meaningful reforms than were in either major party platform. And one that matches purposeful substance with an appropriate tone.

That’s what we called for when we founded Centre Ice Canadians, and it is still what we are calling for today. Mr. Poilievre’s concession speech hinted, for the first time, at humility and a desire to learn lessons from his electoral failure. 

Then again, here we are nearly a week after the election, and he has yet to publicly congratulate Bruce Fanjoy, the Liberal who defeated him in Carleton. And there’s clearly been no leash put on his attack dogs who continue to pour gasoline on the dumpster fire of relations with Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. 

Back the truck up. Looks like the tailgate might be stuck. 

Rick Peterson and Michael Stuart are Edmonton businessmen. Centre Ice Canadians was a federal centrist political platform that operated from August 2022 to September  2023.