Elon Musk praises Poilievre, mocks Trudeau as he steps into Canadian politics

As a giant of industry and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk wields influence across the global economy. He’s now leveraging that success to extend his influence into the democratic process in Canada and elsewhere.

In the past week alone, Musk has dipped into Canadian politics on his social media platform several times; endorsing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, showering him with praise, reposting his tweets and applauding his speeches and media interactions.

At the same time, he has mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his resignation, borrowing president-elect Donald Trump’s language to refer to him as a “governor.” He’s even called Trudeau an “insufferable tool.” 

The influence venture took off in 2022 when he bought Twitter, renaming it X and rolling back rules governing content moderation and disinformation. Describing the move as a defence of free speech, Musk swiftly reinstated Canadian influencer Jordan Peterson and president-elect Donald Trump’s accounts. 

He then spent more than $200 million backing Trump’s successful campaign to regain the U.S. presidency. 

His reward? A role heading Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency, and, perhaps more importantly, the president-elect’s ear. 

Despite having more than 210 million followers on his own platform, and Trump’s friendship, Musk seems to want more ears than Trump’s, and is stepping into political debates around the world.

“It’s about positioning yourself on the global stage as a thought leader, in inverted commas, who can rise above politics but also be aligned with it when it suits him,” said Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.

“I think with Musk [his advocacy has] become aligned with what he sees as political movements around the world that share his libertarian anti-state, anti-regulation, anti-legacy media ideology,” Chadwick told CBC News.  

Chadwick says Poilievre’s pledge to repeal the Liberal government’s online harms legislation, which the Conservatives say is overly broad and risks violating free expression, appeals to Musk, who he describes as an “ideological platform mogul.”

Christopher Cochrane, a political science professor from the University of Toronto, believes it could simply be “vanity” compelling Musk to step into political debates at home and abroad.

“It’s kind of remarkable that he was in a position to buy an entire social media network, almost sort of an alternative universe, and turn it into his own playground and a place to amplify his political views,” he said.

“Just like he was able to figure out electric cars and build a successful rocket company … he’s now just figured out another domain that other people aren’t smart enough or brave enough or bold enough or whatever it is to have solved,” Cochrane said. “There is kind of a hubris element to that.”

To be fair to Musk, Cochrane says “it would be hard not to be overconfident when you’ve had the success he’s had with PayPal and Tesla and SpaceX and all the other things.”

Cochrane explained that Musk has been so successful at getting heard, not only because he is rich, but because people may think his success naturally translates into other areas.

“There are obviously people who have great and very high levels of political sophistication that know nothing whatsoever about rockets and electric cars, and there certainly lots of people who know lots about rockets and electric cars that don’t have particularly high political sophistication,” Cochrane said. “That’s what’s happening here.”

Chadwick has been watching Musk closely in recent months as the X owner has begun stepping into British politics, initially backing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, and then in recent days turning against him when Farage refused to support far-right activist Tommy Robinson. 

He says that when it comes to Musk’s interest in Canada, his posts on X are very tightly aligned with Trump’s comments and the attacks the president-elect has directed toward his northern neighbour. 

“It’s important to see this as part of an alignment between Musk’s interests as a media owner, a platform owner and the Trump administration,” he said. 

Chadwick says the irony of Musk’s editorial positions is that when social media platforms emerged, their founders went to great lengths to argue that they should not be held to the same standards as media organizations. 

“Yet, here we have the owner of a platform with 210 million followers who’s now quite willing to use that platform for his own personal political views to be amplified,” he said. 

In Germany, Musk has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader, Alice Weidel, who’s a fierce critic of multiculturalism. Some prominent AfD members have been ostracized for their failure to condemn the war crimes of the Nazis.

Last year a German court said the AfD was officially suspected of extremism, allowing the German security services to continue monitoring their activities and communications. 

Musk has been accused in Germany of interfering in that country’s upcoming elections on Feb. 23 for his endorsement of the AfD and promise to host a live interview on X with Weidel on Jan. 9.

Cochrane says that by comparison, Musk’s interest in Canada has been much more benign. 

“He controls an awfully large platform and has a pretty massive audience. And for Canada things aren’t going great, so if he’s focused here on promoting Pierre Poilievre that is absolutely not the worst thing that he could be doing,” Cochrane said.