In a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the host reveals that he invited Conservative Party Leader Pierre Polyev to appear on his show, but was rebuffed. In a new clip from the episode, Conservative commentator Cameron Haynes draws a parallel between Polyev's campaign team's refusal to have the Conservative leader on the show and President Trump's call for Canada to become the 51st state.
00:02:05.620He didn't do it. He wouldn't do it. I thought it was too problematic or whatever. Jordan told me,
00:02:10.500I forget what he said, but they were telling him not to do it. Like his advisors were telling him not
00:02:14.820to do it. You're not grilling. You're not attacking people. Of course not. This is like a safe, you
00:02:19.820know, the friend zone type thing. It's like, no. And I heard you talk about Kamala saying, just want
00:02:24.940to get to know her. Just want to talk to her. 100%. I said, if there's certain things they didn't
00:02:29.360want to talk about, I don't need to talk about them. I don't care. I'm like, I could talk to you
00:02:33.120about fucking AI. You've never been the gotcha guy. Polyevre's office did not respond to True
00:02:38.480North's request for comment. The conservative leader did not appear on any American podcast during the
00:02:43.840campaign, but instead opted to go on long form Canadian podcasts. Carney, on the other hand,
00:02:49.700soft launched his campaign on the US The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The campaign occurred just
00:02:55.300months after President Trump referred to Canada as the 51st state and levied tariffs on Canadian goods.
00:03:01.260Trump also said he would use economic force in order to pressure Canada into becoming a US state.
00:03:07.140So Jeff, what Canadian podcasts did Polyevre go on during his campaign? And did they reach a big
00:03:12.180audience? Are some of the criticisms Joe Rogan raised valid?
00:03:16.140Yeah, Isaac, during his campaign, Pierre Polyevre opted for long form Canadian podcasts to connect
00:03:22.560with his voters. It was a strategy that contrasted with Mark Carney's appearance on The Daily Show with
00:03:27.680Jon Stewart in the US. According to a CBC News article from April 10th, Polyevre's team focused on
00:03:33.080platforms like the Hub Dialogues, where he discussed economic policy and housing with host Sean Spear,
00:03:38.560and the Jordan Peterson podcast, where he had appeared back in January 2022 to discuss traditional
00:03:44.240values and masculinity. He also joined the Nelk Boys Full Send podcast, a Canadian-based show popular
00:03:51.480with younger conservative-leaning audiences, to talk about affordability and government overreach.
00:03:56.400These choices aligned with his campaign's focus on controlling media access, limiting risk by sticking
00:04:01.740to sympathetic or neutral Canadian platforms rather than US-based shows like Joe Rogan's.
00:04:06.580As for audience reach, these podcasts varied widely. The Hub Dialogues, a policy-focused show,
00:04:12.740typically garners a niche but engaged audience, with episodes averaging around 50,000 listens based
00:04:18.100on industry estimates. The Jordan Peterson podcast, however, has a much larger reach. Peterson's
00:04:23.320episodes often hit 500,000 or more, up to a million listeners globally, though Polyevre's episode
00:04:29.100likely drew a strong Canadian segment, given the domestic focus. The Nelk Boys Full Send podcast,
00:04:34.140popular with the 18 to 34,000 listens an episode, clearly pulls in 300,000 to 500,000 listens an
00:04:40.120episode. While these numbers are pretty respectable, they pale in comparison to Joe Rogan's 58 million
00:04:45.320views for his Trump episode, suggesting Polyev missed a chance at massive exposure.
00:04:50.300Rogan's frustration with Polyev seems justified. His absence likely limited his ability to counter
00:04:54.740Carney's narrative on a global stage during a critical campaign moment.
00:04:57.980Yeah, one thing I'll just add quickly, Jeff, is in relation to President Donald Trump's victory.
00:05:03.960Some people who are watching the celebrations and whatnot, from the lens of not of a journalist,
00:05:09.800might not have noticed this. But just in the way the cameras were panning and things that were
00:05:13.280discussed shortly thereafter, Trump's son, Baron Trump, was in a way highlighted as the mastermind
00:05:19.280behind the campaign, because of course, he was Donald Trump's podcast advisor, and I think also
00:05:24.420involved in some social media. And something where Trump succeeded that Polyev might see as a failure
00:05:30.840is definitely reaching such vast audiences through these podcasts.
00:05:38.600Elections Canada warned the Liberals to stop ballot exploitation. Now, Conservative leader Pierre Polyev's
00:05:44.540comeback race risks being hijacked by 200 protest candidates. The chief electoral officer warned the
00:05:50.380Liberals last year to amend the law and prevent ballot exploitation. However, the call went unanswered.
00:05:55.840Now, Elections Canada tells True North the concerns remain, and Polyev's upcoming by-election may see him fall victim again to ballot padding.
00:06:02.980A protest group behind Canada's longest-ever election ballots is now targeting the Alberta riding of Battle River Crowfoot,
00:06:09.800aiming to run up to 200 candidates in the by-election Polyev hopes will see him return to Parliament.
00:06:14.720Polyev lost his long-held Carleton seat to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy,
00:06:18.760after the longest ballot committee contributed to a one-meter-long ballot with 91 candidates.
00:06:24.500The same group has begun recruiting candidates to appear on the Battle River Crowfoot ballot,
00:06:28.780the 91-named ballot in the recent federal election tied to a Canadian record,
00:06:32.960matching a ballot influenced by the same group in a 2024 Quebec by-election.
00:06:39.040In the past few days, we've received dozens and dozens of emails from people asking to join the ballot for the upcoming by-election in Battle River Crowfoot.
00:06:46.820We will do our best to make a long ballot happen if we get at least 200 people signing up to be candidates.
00:06:52.120The committee confirmed that each candidate needs 100 local voters to nominate them,
00:06:56.940but that candidates do not need to live in the riding, and that it's free to enter the election as a candidate.
00:07:01.340The Electoral District had an estimated population of 107,979 in 2021.
00:07:08.000Elections Canada states that the 100 people who consent to a person's candidacy
00:07:12.160have to be qualified electors and live in the Electoral District where the candidate intends to run.
00:07:17.660A spokesperson for Elections Canada told True North the Elections Act does not prohibit someone from being an official agent for more than one candidate,
00:07:25.660and that any change to that law would require an act of Parliament.
00:07:28.660The spokesperson added that without new legislation, any candidate who fulfills all the conditions for candidacy
00:07:34.240will have their name included on a ballot, assuming they're a Canadian citizen over the age of 18 years old.
00:07:40.340So Isaac, are there simple legislative changes that could fix this issue?
00:07:44.500What exactly is this issue protesting?
00:08:11.740In the case of the Longest Ballot Initiative, we have seen nomination papers for the various participating candidates signed by the same electors.
00:08:20.680This indicates that voters who sign the nomination papers are not supporting the nomination of a particular candidate,
00:08:26.740but rather the idea of having as many candidates as possible, whomever they may be,
00:08:32.460consistent with the goals of the Longest Ballot Initiative.
00:08:34.920The Chief Electoral Officer added that he wrote to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc,
00:08:42.580to request that voters can only support the nomination papers of one candidate, among other concerns.
00:08:48.120However, of course, that request went unanswered.