Misrepresentations are nothing new for Poilievre, mind you. If anything, he’s built the massive lead his party enjoys in the polls on the back of his concerted campaign to confuse Canadians about why they’re paying higher prices for things like groceries and energy. But this particular abuse of the truth is so obvious, so flagrant, and so utterly pointless that it’s worth thinking a little longer about what it says.

This is the real risk of a Poilievre government, one that has multiplied in scale with Trump on his way to the White House. His utter indifference to the truth, and his willingness to weaponize deceit for his own purposes, are traits he clearly shares with Trump. But they will not endear him to the U.S. president, and they will not spare us from his administration’s inevitable wrath. Surrender, after all, doesn’t deter a bully — it encourages him. And every concession to deceit, no matter how small, makes the bigger lies that much easier to get away with.

The best way to protect our cultural and political sovereignty right now is by defending reality, inconvenient as it may seem at times. With Trump in power and our social media overlords increasingly unwilling to do anything to stop the spread of falsehoods and conspiracies on their platforms, we are well and truly on our own here. Our government — indeed, all of our governments — have to step up.