Pierre Poilievre was on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Here are the big takeaways

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sat down with the popular, but controversial podcast host Joe Rogan for a wide-ranging conversation that’s set to be seen by millions.

Their more-than two-hour conversation focused on health and exercise, Poilievre’s political career, and major Canadian political storylines, including the Freedom Convoy, assisted dying, immigration and the current push to approve more major energy projects.

Poilievre also pushed back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetoric to make Canada the 51st state and turned down a chance to criticize Prime Minister Mark Carney.

In recent months, with his party lagging in the polls, Poilievre has been making a push to broaden his base and branch out internationally.

“The Joe Rogan Experience” is one of the most-listened-to podcasts globally, with an average 11 million listeners per episode.

And while his audience is sizeable, Rogan has been criticized for platforming polarizing figures and spreading misinformation.

The former television host had invited Poilievre to come on his podcast during the last election, but the Conservative leader declined.

Now, the party says the program is an ideal platform to reach more potential voters, but also to get its pro-Canada message directly to Americans.

The episode was taped while Poilievre was in Austin, Texas — where Rogan’s podcast studio is located — earlier this week, as part of the Conservative leader’s week-long U.S. tour.

We watched the whole interview, here’s what you need to know.

‘Knock that s--- off’ on 51 state

Fairly early in the interview, Rogan asked about Poilievre’s 2025 federal election loss, saying: “There’s a narrative in America, and the narrative is that you were about to win and your party was about to win.”

But then, he added Trump “came along and said he was going to turn Canada into the 51st state and everybody went crazy.”

Rogan asked Poilievre if that was accurate, and Poilievre said he wouldn’t say Canadians went crazy, and they should have been upset.

“It’s a crazy thing to say, Canada is not for sale,” Poilievre said. “We’re never going to be the 51st state. You know, we love Americans as neighbours and friends, but we want to be sovereign as Canadians.”

“You’re a patriot as an American, I’m a patriot as a Canadian … So we’re never going to be the 51st state,” he continued, before dropping a line that’s sure to get some traction.

“I just wish you’d knock that s--- off so that we can get back to talking about the things that we can do as two separate countries that are actually friends,” he said.

Also asked whether the comments had an effect and whether Canadians take Trump seriously, Poilievre said he initially thought it was a joke. The two then agreed Canada becoming the 51st state, is “not a good idea.”

Poilievre later confirmed — after speaking at length about the impact U.S. tariffs are having and how he thinks a tariff-free deal would benefit both nations — that he has not personally spoken to Trump about the trade war.

Poilievre’s been texting Carney

The announcement that Poilievre’s U.S. tour would intentionally not include a stop in Washington, D.C. initially raised some eyebrows.

In the Rogan interview, Poilievre spoke at length about the strategy and rationale behind his decision to leave the trade negotiations to the governing Liberals, while doing what he can to talk Canada up to any American who will listen.

“I believe in the rule of ‘one prime minister at a time,’” he said. “I fought like hell to win. I didn’t win. We came very close. So I’ve said, ‘listen, I’ll leave it to the prime minister to do the negotiating.’”

“Even in my visit down here, I’m sending (Carney) text messages to tell him what’s going on, try and support his work,” Poilievre also said. “Because we both want what’s best for Canada.”

Rogan then asked when the next federal election will be, and Poilievre quipped that it’s a “strangely hard question to answer,” before explaining the current minority dynamics in Parliament and the confidence convention.

“So when you’re campaigning … this is like a long game?” Rogan then asked.

“Yeah. Well, we have two roles, so I said, I’m the leader of the Opposition, but I’m also prime minister in waiting,” Poilievre said.

“So you have to be prosecuting the government, but you have to present yourself to people in a way where they say, ‘yeah, that guy or that team could actually be the government,’” he added.

Later on in the interview, Poilievre said he wouldn’t criticize Carney “on foreign soil,” a stance Rogan said was “such a Canadian thing to do.”

“We have a mutual respect,” Poilievre said.

Poilievre on Trudeau-Castro conspiracy theory

Poilievre also pushed back on a prevalent conspiracy theory about Carney’s predecessor, former prime minister Justin Trudeau, despite the acrimony between Trudeau and Poilievre when the two sat opposite each other in the House.

When Poilievre explained his upbringing and how he got into politics, he said he started “reading about different things,” including a biography of the former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro.

Rogan then quips: “Justin’s dad,” in reference to a well-known online conspiracy theory that the Cuban revolutionary is Trudeau’s biological father.

“No, Pierre,” Poilievre said. “His dad was Pierre.”

“I had issues with Pierre Trudeau too,” Poilievre added, referencing Justin’s father, and fellow former prime minister.

When Rogan then presses to say it’s a “great conspiracy theory,” Poilievre responded: “well, it is a hell of a … I don’t think it’s a true one though.”

Poilievre says Alberta separation ‘won’t happen’

Near the end of the podcast, the province of Alberta came up, with Rogan asking Poilievre about the separatist movement there.

“That won’t happen,” Poilievre said.

“There’s some legitimate frustrations, but at the end of the day, Canada’s going to be united,” he added.

Poilievre is from Calgary and represents a rural riding in Alberta after winning a byelection last August. He lost his longtime Ottawa-area seat in last year’s federal election.

At several points in the podcast, Poilievre also laid out his policy priorities, saying one of them would be to “unblock” Canada’s resources if he were to become prime minister.

The two men then went into a discussion about balancing environmental concerns when extracting resources.

While Poilievre acknowledged “there’s an impact no matter what you do,” he argued Canada’s oil sands are “the best resources in the world” that has “no decline rate.”

“We have the best industry, the most responsible industry anywhere in the world,” Poilievre said. “It’s been a disgusting PR campaign by extremist environmentalists and frankly, some of our competitors to try and make our industry look bad.”

When Rogan then said he’s had concerns about the environmental impact of the oil sands because of “some videos” he’s seen, saying it “looks horrible,” Poilievre said: “it’s all bulls---.”

‘I’m a big kettlebell freak’

A significant portion of the podcast focused on health and fitness.

Rogan has been a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship for nearly 30 years, and Poilievre has spoken about his dedication to fitness for more than a decade.

The lengthy conversation between the two delves into the history of mixed martial arts, as well as diet and farming practices in Canada and the United States.

The first six minutes of the interview, however, are focused entirely on kettlebells.

“I’m a big kettlebell freak,” Poilievre said, before explaining the research he’s done on the history of the exercise tool, and presenting a 70-pound, Canadian-made one with a red maple leaf to Rogan as a gift.

“Every time you do a kettlebell swing, you do a snatch, you do a clean, you’re going to be seeing that maple leaf, and you’re going to be reminding yourself that you need to come back to Canada,” Poilievre said.