Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s leading conservative figure and the head of the official opposition, recently made history by becoming the first Canadian political leader to appear on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. This wasn’t a decision taken lightly. Initially, Poilievre had been invited for an interview during the federal election campaign in April 2025, but his team reportedly advised him to decline. The reason? Joe Rogan, despite his massive audience and global popularity (averaging 11 million listeners per episode and ranked number one on Spotify in 2025), is a highly polarizing and controversial figure. Yet, something shifted. Poilievre ultimately decided to go, even presenting Rogan with a kettlebell inscribed with a maple leaf as a gift. He later told the media that his primary motivation was to appeal to the United States to lift tariffs on Canadian goods. While the effectiveness of this strategy remains to be seen, his appearance has sparked a broader conversation: were there unintended consequences? Did he inadvertently spread misinformation about Canada and North America to a massive global audience, potentially harming Canadians even while appealing to his political base?
Our research dives into the “manosphere,” online spaces like podcasts and videos that often promote hyper-masculine ideals and are known for spreading conspiracy theories, hate speech, and misinformation. We’ve seen how influencers within this sphere traffic in toxic content, targeting marginalized groups and disseminating dangerous inaccuracies about health, politics, immigration, and the environment. The Joe Rogan Experience, by its very nature and content, sits within this ecosystem. From this perspective, we meticulously analyzed Poilievre’s comments during his interview with Rogan. Our goal was to identify if any of Rogan’s well-known conspiratorial or misinformation-laden ideas crept into their conversation, and perhaps more importantly, how Poilievre chose to respond to them. While much of the initial media coverage focused on the seemingly innocuous topics of tariffs, Canada-U.S. relations, and their shared interest in fitness, our deeper dive uncovered several instances of misinformation concerning immigration, the environmental and health impacts of Alberta’s oilsands, seed oils, safer drug supply measures, and the underlying causes of inflation.
One significant area of concern was immigration. Poilievre claimed, without providing any evidence, that Canada admits one million immigrants annually. However, official Canadian government data tells a very different story. The targets for temporary residents (students and work visa holders) are set at 385,000 for 2026, and permanent resident targets are at 380,000. Combined, these figures are significantly lower than the number Poilievre cited. Inflating immigration numbers is a well-known tactic within far-right online spaces, designed specifically to fuel anxieties about demographic change. By repeating this unsubstantiated claim on a platform with millions of listeners, Poilievre effectively lent legitimacy to a distorted narrative. This kind of rhetoric inevitably creates division within society and can cause real harm to racialized communities, fostering distrust and prejudice. Canada’s immigration system, like any system, has its criticisms and immigrants undoubtedly face challenges, but misrepresenting factual numbers only exacerbates these issues, rather than addressing them constructively.
Another glaring instance of misinformation arose when the conversation turned to Alberta’s oilsands. Poilievre asserted, rather boldly, that the oilsands have “no impact to groundwater… no impact to the environment” and that people living near them are “very healthy.” These claims are in stark contrast to scientific evidence. A 2024 report by University of British Columbia scientists on the Athabasca oilsands, for example, clearly points to significant environmental and health impacts. At best, Poilievre significantly downplayed the potential dangers of oil development. His characterizations not only defy scientific research but also disregard the lived experiences and concerns of those most directly affected by oilsands operations. When discussing health and diet, a favorite topic of Rogan’s, the issue of seed oils came up. They both suggested that beef tallow or butter are superior for health compared to foods made with seed oils. This claim, popular among wellness influencers, has been thoroughly debunked by the Harvard School of Public Health through multiple scientific articles. What makes Poilievre’s tacit agreement particularly problematic is that Canada is the world’s largest exporter of canola oil. By failing to challenge Rogan’s health misinformation, Poilievre indirectly undermined an industry he was ostensibly trying to support through his appearance on the podcast.
The conversation also veered into the contentious topic of safer drug supply initiatives. Poilievre alleged that individuals were acquiring opioids through Canada’s safer supply program and then selling these drugs to children, claiming “the addicts would sell those to kids so that they could buy the harder stuff off the street, and it expanded it even more.” This is a talking point that the Conservative Party and Poilievre, along with some conservative media outlets, have been pushing for years. However, this claim was fact-checked by The Walrus magazine in 2024, which found no credible evidence supporting the notion that safe supply drugs were ending up in the hands of children. Repeating such a baseless accusation on a global platform like Rogan’s reinforces a punitive narrative around drug use, a narrative that has demonstrably failed to reduce harm. It also echoes a moral panic that, to some extent, justifies aggressive U.S. tariff threats against Canada, further complicating international relations. Finally, Poilievre attributed inflation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic entirely to the previous Liberal government’s actions. He claimed, “Like back during COVID when all these governments were printing money and all the politicians and bankers said ‘Oh, this is great. Well, look at all this money we get to spend.’ I’d walk around communities and I’d have like mechanics say, you know, we’re going to have inflation. And I would say, yeah, it makes sense to me… And sure enough, all that money filtered into the economy, bid up all the goods we buy, and everybody got smoked with higher prices.” While government spending can certainly contribute to inflation, this simplistic explanation ignores countless other complex, global factors at play. This claim, too, has been fact-checked and found to be misleading by the Calgary Journal in 2025, highlighting Poilievre’s consistent use of selective and often inaccurate information.
So, does it truly matter if Poilievre is disseminating misinformation about Canada on a platform like Joe Rogan’s? We firmly believe it does. As a leader aspiring to become Prime Minister, Poilievre should be driven by a desire to lead the country in ways that genuinely benefit all Canadians – including canola farmers, immigrants, individuals who use drugs, and communities grappling with the impacts of oil development. His talking points on immigration and drug trafficking, among others, are not simply misstatements; they function as “dog whistles,” speaking directly to far-right online audiences and validating their pre-existing biases. Making such claims is inherently dangerous. Anti-immigrant misinformation, for instance, actively fosters divisiveness and distrust among Canadians, causing real detriment to targeted racialized populations. Similarly, making false accusations about drug-related crime or unmitigated drug trafficking reinforces a justification for increased governmental oversight and control over citizens. It also, regrettably, lends credence to the false narratives that the U.S. has used to rationalize its retaliatory actions against Canada, including the imposition of tariffs.
Poilievre has often faced criticism for his associations with far-right politicians, a connections that has eroded his popularity among many Canadian voters who are wary of the divisive tactics of figures like Donald Trump. Despite his past reservations about political theatrics—like the kettlebell gift to Rogan—Poilievre now appears intent on promoting claims that resonate deeply with his base, even as these claims face scrutiny and are fact-checked as misleading by others. By promoting politically expedient misinformation on a show with the reach of Joe Rogan’s, Poilievre risks undermining the shared understanding Canadians have of critical issues. This includes public health, environmental challenges, and the very fabric of social cohesion – all issues that he, as a potential future leader, should be diligently working to address with accurate information and thoughtful solutions. In an era where democratic communication is increasingly strained by the relentless churn of misinformation and deepening societal polarization, Canadians deserve, and should demand, better from their political leaders, regardless of their party affiliation. The pursuit of political gain at the expense of truth, especially on such a grand stage, carries a heavy and potentially damaging cost for the nation.