Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Royal Roads University
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, head of Canada’s official opposition, recently became the first Canadian political leader to appear on the controversial Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Poilievre had been asked to sit for an interview with Rogan amid the federal election campaign in April 2025, but was reportedly advised by his team to pass since Rogan was, and remains, a polarizing and contentious figure. Nonetheless, Rogan’s podcast is one of the world’s longest running, averaging 11 million listeners per episode and ranked No. 1 globally on Spotify in 2025.
Poilievre apparently changed his mind, presenting Rogan with the gift of a kettlebell inscribed with a maple leaf during the interview. The Conservative leader told the media he went on the podcast because he wanted to appeal to the United States to lift tariffs on Canadian goods.
Whether his efforts worked remains to be seen, but could there be unintended consequences to Poilievre’s appearance on the podcast? Did he spread any harmful disinformation about Canada and North America to a massive audience that, while possibly popular among his base, could be detrimental to Canadians in general?
Rogan and the manosphere
We conduct research on the manosphere, online spaces including videos and podcasts characterized by hyper-masculine ideals and documented tendencies to spread conspiracy, hate and misinformation.
Our findings show that manosphere influencers spread toxic content about marginalized populations, including dangerous misinformation about health, politics, immigration and the environment. The Joe Rogan Experience is part of this ecosystem.
From this vantage point, we analyzed Poilievre’s comments to Rogan to see if any of the podcaster’s well-known conspiratorial or misinformation-laden ideas made it into the conversation, and how Poilievre responded.
While recent coverage of the podcast episode in news media has focused on tariffs, Canada-U.S. relations and a shared love of fitness, we found misinformation on immigration, the health and environmental consequences of Alberta’s oilsands, seed oils, safer drug supply measures and the causes of inflation.
1. Immigration
Poilievre, citing no evidence, told Rogan that Canada admits one million immigrants per year.
But information from the Canadian government website shows that targets for temporary residents — students and work visa holders — make up 385,000 people for 2026, while permanent resident targets are at 380,000 people. Combined, that’s significantly fewer than the number cited by Poilievre.
Inflating immigration numbers is a known rhetorical tactic in far-right online spaces, where it functions to fuel anxieties about demographic change. Repeating it on a platform with millions of listeners legitimizes a distortion that creates division and harms racialized communities.
(Unsplash)
2. Oilsands
Poilievre told Rogan that Alberta’s oilsands have very few health or environmental consequences, stating that it has “no impact to groundwater … no impact to the environment” and that people who live near the oilsands are “very healthy.”
But a 2024 report on the Athabasca oilsands released by scientists at the University of British Columbia suggest significant environmental and health impacts from the oilsands, meaning that, at best, Poilievre oversold the safety of oil development. His characterizations don’t reflect scientific research and they sideline those most affected.
Read more:
How plants can help clean up oilsands tailing ponds
3. Seed oils
One of Rogan’s favourite topics is health and diet, so it wasn’t surprising to hear him discuss seed oils with Poilievre. They talked about how beef tallow or butter is better for people’s health than foods made from seed oils.
This claim, popular among wellness influencers, has been debunked by the Harvard School of Public Health in multiple scientific articles.
Canada is also the largest exporter of canola oil in the world, so when Poilievre failed to push back against Rogan’s health misinformation, he tacitly supported an idea that harms the very trade he was purportedly aiming to bolster with his appearance on the podcast.
4. Safer drug supply initiatives
Poilievre told Rogan that people are acquiring opioids through Canada’s safer supply drug program and then selling the drugs to children, alleging “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 claim that the Conservative Party of Canada and Poilievre, along with conservative media, have been touting for years.
The claim was fact-checked by the Walrus magazine in 2024, which found no credible evidence that safe supply drugs were ending up in the hands of children. Repeating it on a global platform reinforces a punitive narrative about drug use that has demonstrably failed to reduce harm and echoes a moral panic used to justify aggressive U.S. tariff threats against Canada.
Read more:
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5. Inflation
Poilievre told Rogan that inflation during and following the COVID-19 pandemic was a direct result of the previous Liberal government’s actions. He said:
“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.”
Poilievre has made this claim for a while. It was fact-checked and found to be misleading by the Calgary Journal in 2025.
Misinformation or politics as usual?
Does it matter if Poilievre is spreading misinformation about Canada on Rogan’s podcast? We believe it does.
Poilievre aspires to become prime minister and should aim to lead the country in ways that benefit all Canadians, including canola farmers, immigrants, people who use drugs and the communities that are currently polluted by oil development.
His talking points on immigration and drug trafficking, among others, are known dog whistles that speak to far-right online audiences.
Making these claims is dangerous. Anti-immigrant misinformation, for example, creates divisiveness and distrust among Canadians, to the detriment of targeted racialized populations.
Making false accusations about drug-related crime or unmitigated drug trafficking reinforces the case for greater governmental oversight of citizens. It also justifies, to some extent, the false narratives cited by the U.S. in its retaliatory actions against Canada, including tariffs.
Read more:
Trump’s lurking assault on Canada rests on endless lies and irrational populism
Appealing to his base?
Poilievre has often been criticized for his association with far-right politicians. These associations have eroded his popularity among most Canadian voters who don’t like the tactics and divisiveness of the current U.S. administration under Donald Trump.
Despite previously showing little appetite for political theatrics like gifting Rogan a maple-leaf-embossed kettlebell, Poilievre now appears intent on pushing claims that resonate with his base, even as others scrutinize and fact-check them as misleading.
By promoting politically expedient misinformation on a show like Joe Rogan’s, Poilievre risks eroding Canadians’ shared understanding of public health, environmental challenges and social cohesion — all issues he should be working to address.
At a time when democratic communication is strained by misinformation and deepening polarization, Canadians should expect better from their political leaders, regardless of party.
Jaigris Hodson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Brianna I. Wiens receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Nick Ruest receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Shana MacDonald receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
– ref. Fact check: Pierre Poilievre’s misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast disrespects Canadians – https://theconversation.com/fact-check-pierre-poilievres-misinformation-on-joe-rogans-podcast-disrespects-canadians-278864