Four days after being posted, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s documentary-style video on Canada’s housing crisis has amassed over four million views on X (formerly Twitter).
Poilievre’s 15-minute video, titled Housing hell: How we got here and how we get out, delves into Canada’s housing crisis, exploring statistics and case studies into the dire state of the housing market.
“Something new and strange has happened in Canada — something we haven’t seen before. An entire generation of youth now say they will never be able to afford a home. This is not normal for Canada,” said Poilievre in the video.
The video had 4.1M views on X by Wednesday morning. Comparatively, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s video addressing housing challenges, which was released on the same day, had 262.8K views.
However, Trudeau’s video had more comments, 2.3K, compared to the 2.1K comments on Poilievre’s video.
Many users commenting on Poilievre’s video criticized the Conservative leader for not addressing immigration levels, which some analysts have argued is a key contributor to the lack of housing in Canada.
Poilievre’s viral video is being commended as a unique approach to reaching voters.
Alex Marland, a professor at Halifax’s Acadia University and a specialist in political communication, told Le Journal de Montreal that Poilievre’s video “marks a new era in political communication in Canada.”
“It’s very unusual to see a documentary-style video this long,” said Marland.
“They’ve taken some shortcuts because it’s infotainment: you have to make politics simple enough for people to pay attention, and I think they’ve succeeded,” Marland added, acknowledging the strategic simplification for broader appeal.
Marland said that Trudeau’s Liberals have no choice but to make similar videos, even if it means coming in second place.
“I think the risks of doing nothing are far worse,” he said.
Three conservative insiders revealed to The Globe and Mail that Poilievre’s video is a key element of a wider strategy initiated in the summer. These sources suggest that the extended format of the video is a tactical move to counter the left’s criticism that the Conservative leader relies on soundbites.
Two of these sources further characterized the video as a largely Poilievre-driven experiment. Given the substantial viewership garnered by the first video’s release, they said the public can anticipate a series of similar videos.
