Canada’s newly elected Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, is one Bitcoin enthusiast – and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is no fan.
Speaking in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, on Monday, Trudeau criticised his new political rival for his “irresponsibility” in promoting cryptocurrencies to his followers.
“Telling people they can opt out of inflation by investing their savings in volatile cryptocurrencies is not responsible management,” he said. “By the way, anyone who followed that advice would have seen their savings destroyed.”
Trudeau doubled down on this line of attack Twitter, calling Poilievre’s support a “dubious, reckless economic idea.” Many Bitcoiners – including former Kraken CEO Dan Held-natural was not happy of the comment.
Poilievre was elected Canada’s next Conservative leader on Saturday in a landslide victory, scoring over 68% of the party’s vote. His runner-up, Jean Charest, won only about 16% of the vote.
The Conservative leader ran a campaign largely focused on fiscal responsibility and reduced inflation, particularly in terms of increases in the money supply. It’s a common refrain from Bitcoin followers, who tend to gravitate to the cryptocurrency as a “hard money” alternative because of its steady supply.
Poilievre has been very public about his views on Bitcoin since the start of his campaign, and appeared famous Bitcoin podcasts. Because Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins that will ever be mined, it has gained a reputation as “digital gold” and a long-term inflation hedge.
“The government is destroying the Canadian dollar, so Canadians should have the freedom to use other money, such as Bitcoin,” Poilievre so during a rally in March. Later that day, MP tweeted a donation link, asking supporters to take back control from “bankers and politicians” and make Canada the “blockchain capital of the world.”
But despite its “digital gold” narrative, Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market have moved closely with tech stocks for years. So while economies struggle with record inflation in 2022, Bitcoin is now down 69% from its all-time high of nearly $69,000, which it recorded last November.
The dramatic price drop has opened Poilievre to political attacks from his opponents over his support for Bitcoin. Both Conservative and Liberal opponents have also attacked Poilievre’s support for Canada’s “Freedom convoy” protesters.
The group, which organized in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, traveled almost 1 million dollars in Bitcoin to support the cause. “Fighting life-saving vaccines is not responsible leadership,” Trudeau tweeted today.
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