Mark Bourrie

The historian and journalist Mark Bourrie discusses his new book Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre (Biblioasis, 2025), with Joseph Planta.

Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre by Mark Bourrie (Biblioasis, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Ripper

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Mark Bourrie joins me again. His latest book, Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre was recently published to good reviews and it’s already on the bestseller list. As I admit to Mark in the interview that we taped on Friday morning, I’ve never found Poilievre an interesting person because he has always seemed to be a glib fighter prone to theatrics and quips rather than ideals and policy. Yet, I have found Mark’s book highly readable; an indispensable chronicle of Canadian political culture in the last twenty to twenty-five years, as well as an indictment of the qualities that Poilievre has that make him less than ideal to become prime minister of Canada, which he could very well be in week’s time. The title of the book comes from David Brooks, who said that there were two types of politicians: rippers and weavers. Rippers, whether they’re of the left or the right, see politics as war. They’ll seek power and destroy whatever is in their way for it. And the portrait of Poilievre is that, he’s got little practical experience outside of politics, seemingly angry all the time, and somebody who sees little value in consensus. Poilievre is seemingly the right and wrong person for the moment. He evokes in his supporters, victimhood in a country that they’ll claim is broken. They’re tired with the Liberal decade in power, because it frustrates them that they’re not in power. Poilievre has never changed, the country has, that’s why so many people in this country will vote for him. At the same time, as the book points out, he’s wrong for this moment because of the existential crisis that the country finds itself in what with Donald Trump and his various pronouncements. It might be said that had Trump not come to power again, Poilievre might have better poll numbers. And as Bourrie warns, he might not be the best sort of leader to deal with Trump, because the evidence through his political record suggests he’ll just knuckle under to get along. Mark Bourrie is an Ottawa-based author, lawyer, and journalist. He holds a master’s in Journalism from Carleton, and a PhD in history from the University of Ottawa. His Juris Doctor degree was awarded in 2017, and he was called to the bar in 2018. He’s won numerous awards for his journalism, including a National Magazine Award, as well as the RBC Charles Taylor Prize in 2020 for his book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson. He’s appeared on the program with that book, as well as last year’s bestseller Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia. This new book is published by Biblioasis. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Mark Bourrie; Dr. Bourrie, good morning.

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