The Conservative Advantage: Authenticity, Courage, and the Power of Telling the Truth First

A speech on power, gaslighting, and why so many people feel something is deeply wrong

Last week, I was invited to speak at the Conservative Convention in Calgary.

I didn’t go to provoke outrage or chase applause. I went to say something that I believe many Canadians are feeling—quietly, and privately.

That something is this: a growing number of people feel gaslit by institutions that no longer speak honestly to them, policies that don’t match lived reality, and a political culture that confuses moral superiority with results.

The speech below is about that disconnect.

It’s about why dissent has become dangerous, why truth now feels subversive, and why so many good people are questioning their own instincts… not because they’re radical, but because they’re paying attention.

It’s also about hope.

Not the manufactured kind that comes from slogans or borrowed money, but the kind that comes from honesty, courage, and the belief that things do not have to continue this way.

I’m publishing the full speech here, unedited, because context matters, and because the response it received confirmed something important to me:

People don’t need to be managed. They need to be told the truth.

Watch The Full Speech Here

I often have people ask me, whats your story? Why did you get involved in politics? While it’s not the happiest story, the truth is that it was grief… life-altering, personality-changing grief… —it was in my darkest moments that through the grace of God, that grief turned into purpose…. Talking about politics stopped being abstract or “risky” for me and became a moral obligation. Because in some way, shape or form, politics affects each and every one of us. It shapes our future, structures our lives, determines the opportunity we have access to…

And right now, people can feel that something is wrong. Not because the media told them. Not because a politician explained it well. But because real life has become harder, more expensive, more constrained, and the stories we’re told about “why” do not match real life.

For years, people have been told:

If you’re struggling, it’s because you need to work harder. Or my personal favorite, It’s a global phenomena…

If you’re angry, it’s because you’re misinformed.

If you question the direction and data, it must be because you’re hateful, or fearful, or unintelligent.

And this gaslighting doesn’t just make people doubt facts — it makes them doubt themselves.

It’s designed that way… to isolate you. To make you feel ashamed. To make you self-censor. To make you believe you’re alone. Because once you do, you’ll stop talking about it.

But look around this room. You are not alone.

What we are witnessing is not left versus right. It’s right versus wrong… and it’s something the Conservative Party of Canada, and Pierre Poilievre, have been signalling for far too long.

It’s we the people versus a ruling class that no longer lives under the consequences of the policies it imposes.

It’s the technocrats and credentialed elites versus everyone, expected to quietly absorb the cost.

They speak in abstractions. But you live in reality. They talk about “transitions”. You deal with the price tag and consequences of their failure.

But something has become incredibly clear…

They are afraid—not of anger, not of protests, not of slogans—but of truth spoken plainly. In Mark Carney’s book Values, one I highly encourage everyone to read, he has several chapters that actually mention how elites are losing public trust.

Because once people see clearly, fear stops working. That’s why the smears never stop. And the labels multiply.

When they can’t defend their record, they attack your character. When they can’t point to improvement, they point fingers at the people asking for proof. When they can’t show results, they manufacture villains.

They know something else, too. The most powerful, diverse, and consequential generation in this country is young people—and young people are not buying what they’re selling.

Not because they’re conservative or progressive. In many cases, they arent even political. But because they are living with the consequences of bad policy.

They see that debt isn’t compassion.

That dependency strips you of your dignity.

That censorship isn’t for our protection.

And they understand that real success comes from opportunities, progress… not headlines, and not how many people a government program claims to cover.

That isn’t leadership. And it certainly isn’t on the right track.

The audacity for this liberal government to tell them, “you need to sacrifice more… but it’ll be worth it, I promise!” as though they have not already made the biggest sacrifices any generation has in decades.

Sacrificing home ownership, the chance to be employed in a career you love, having children, and affording your dream wedding. The ability to work hard and have the world be your oyster because that was the dream this great nation once promised them…

We don’t want to sacrifice anymore for an end goal that can’t even be explained to us. We deserve honesty. And honesty is the conservative advantage. When Pierre Poilievre says, you don’t have to live like this. hope is on the way… it hits people a little bit differently, as the truth often does…

It resonates, and it doesn’t need to be explained with big words for you to understand, only to find yourself still not understanding and feeling confused because the rhetoric doesn’t match reality.

As I often joke, if someone has to explain why something makes sense… It’s usually because it doesn’t.

Conservatives have been team Canada, promising hope, prosperity and sovereignty since before it was trendy. What about this liberal government?

Well, it’s obvious judging by the media headlines… or how almost every press release posted on the Prime Minister’s website starts with “dangerous, divided and uncertain world.”

They use fear. They use panic. They manufacture vulnerability in order to justify more Control.

But a government whose policies make you more dependent on it no longer serves. It owns.

And Canadians are tired of being treated like spectators in their own country. Tired of being ignored and called names as they are calling for help.

Contrary to what many headlines would want you to believe, Conservatism, at its core, isn’t about anger, “whining,” or being negative.

It’s about responsibility. It’s about accountability. And conserving Liberty.

It means trusting people with the truth—even when it’s uncomfortable— because dignity begins with honesty. And you cannot heal as an individual, as a community, and as a nation – when you avoid reality and keep trying to mitigate the symptom to buy you some time, while continuously avoiding the cause.

The conservative advantage isn’t endless promises. It’s realism.
We don’t ask people to pretend failure is progress.

We say: You don’t have to accept decline as unavoidable. Because it’s not… And nobody should be trying to manipulate you into thinking it is.

And watch how those in power behave when that truth gets close. When it turns out that carbon taxes do indeed make life less affordable. That money printing causes inflation, and that investments and productivity drop when you have too much red tape, too big a bureaucracy, and approvals that take up to a decade before shovels are in the ground.

Notice what becomes “front-page news” — and what quietly disappears. Notice how often personalities matter more than outcomes.

They don’t ask, “Are people better off because of this?” They ask, “Well, how was his tone?”

Because once you start measuring success by results, the illusion collapses.

We’ve also been sold another lie:

That compliance equals virtue. That doing what you’re told automatically makes you a “good person.”

That repeating the approved lines absolves you from responsibility. That saying something enough times must mean it’s true.

But are you a good person when you have to lie? When you omit details? When you cherry-pick data? When you insult half the country to look morally superior?

Real goodness doesn’t require silencing and shaming others simply because they support a legal political party in a democratic nation. Real goodness doesn’t require a strategic absence of important details in order to be accepted. Truth doesn’t need coercion.

Many people in this room know this because they’ve lived it. They remember a time when debate was a productive tool to get to the best outcome. When disagreement wasn’t dehumanization. When diversity actually included diversity of thought.

That old Liberal Party doesn’t exist anymore.

If you doubt it, just listen to how they talk to you — asking you to celebrate another nine billion dollars in borrowed money for a GST rebate that doesn’t solve a single affordability problem.

That’s why being honest about these realities is met with such viciousness… and deflection… because Truth exposes the gap between what they promise — and what you’re left living with

And as frustrating as this can be, I want to encourage you: Be wise as a serpent. Be gentle as a dove.

Be calm. Be Courageous. Be steady. Be kind. And be intentional.

Know the data. Know the facts. And be strategic in how you help those around you become more informed about the issues that truly matter — the ones that improve the quality of life for all of us.

Because good policy should actually make life better — not decide who’s ‘better.’ That is the conservative advantage.

Don’t get distracted by the noise. Don’t let the smears pull you off course.

They will omit details. They will use your emotions against you.

And I want you to remember this moment.

Remember what it felt like to see through the fog. Remember what it felt like to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with people who refuse to be gaslit — and refuse to accept less after paying more.

Truth is on your side. And truth has endurance.

And to leave you with one final thought:

There is a very real battle happening right now. We see it every time we scroll the comment section on social media… every time someone starts calling you names when they can’t back up their opinion with factual data.

One that deliberately turns people against one another. One that makes good people doubt themselves. And whispers, “Why bother? Nothing will ever change.” Have you ever once heard a Liberal say, “The system is broken, I don’t vote”? I bet you’ve heard conservatives say that, though…

That feeling is not accidental.

You know, a dear friend once asked me a simple question:

If an institution is rotten, what do you do? Do you burn it down — or do you get involved and reform it from the inside? The answer is always the same. You get involved.

Because hope is never lost — so long as people are willing to hold onto it. Hope is the one thing that no politician can take from you.
And remember that the power of the people must never be forgotten or underestimated.

democracy only works when it’s about you. Not institutions. Not elites. Not narratives. You.

And I know it can be frustrating. I know it can feel hopeless.

But I see you. I hear you. And even if I’ve never met you before — I love you. And I need you to keep going.

You are not alone. You’re not radicalized because your gut tells you something isn’t right.

That instinct matters. And the only people who want you to believe that truth is “crazy” are the ones terrified of it spreading.

I know we are not hopeless. I know that because of this room. Look around you. The people beside you. The conversations you’ve had in the hallways.

Every person here carries a story… stories of hardship, perseverance, and hope.

So when the mischaracterizations get loud. When the media says the most ridiculous things to scare people away from conservatism—remember this moment.

Because this room is the opposite of everything they tell you conservatism is.

So let’s keep our eyes on the bigger picture.

The small disagreements — we can work through those later. Because the most important battle right now is winning. And we only do that—together.

Thank you.

Watch The Full Speech Here