For Pierre Poilievre, the conflict appears to be the point

Some amount of conflict is inherent to democracy — particularly so in a political system that prominently features His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. And hyperbole has probably existed for as long as humans have been able to communicate.

But has any Canadian politician in recent memory embraced rhetorical conflict as enthusiastically as Pierre Poilievre?

For the Conservative leader, there seems to be no such thing as overstatement. And he seems to feel it's almost always worth going on the attack.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference on Parliament Hill in August, he used the word «disastrous» multiple times. He said Chrystia Freeland was «incompetent and discredited» and deemed her «Canada's worst ever finance minister.» He said Housing Minister Sean Fraser — whom Poilievre described previously as «the worst immigration minister in Canadian history» — had «destroyed» the immigration system in his previous portfolio. He called Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault «crazy.»

He said the government had unleashed «crime and chaos» across the country. A fan of alliteration, Poilievre has also accused the Liberals of propagating «drugs and disorder,» «death and destruction» and «housing hell.» He has said the federal carbon tax is an «existential threat to our economy and our way of life» and claims it will lead to «mass hunger and malnutrition.» Last November, he described the government's economic update as a "disgusting scheme."

In April, Poilievre was ejected from the House of Commons after he refused to unconditionally withdraw his use of the term «wacko» to describe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Instead of being chastened, Poilievre and his fellow Conservatives embraced the term to describe policies and ideas with which