David Brooks, a Canadian-born American writer and columnist, has written that there are two types of politicians: weavers and rippers.

Weavers are those who try to fix things, bringing people together as they build consensus, weaving together the social fabric. Rippers are those for whom politics is war, not caring about the destruction they cause in their quest for power SA国际影视传媒� thriving on disruption and dissension while ripping the social fabric.

In his recent book 'Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre,' Mark Bourrie documents PoilievreSA国际影视传媒檚 rise through the conservative ranks as a political attack dog, a ripper to the core. At the beginning of this campaign, Poilievre tried to keep that tendency under wraps as he appealed to Canadians for support.

The majority of Canadians were not fooled. A recent Angus Reid poll found 55 per cent of Canadians have a favourable view of Carney, who is a weaver, while only 36 per cent favoured Poilievre. In addition, Carney was preferred as prime minister SA国际影视传媒� 50 per cent to 28 per cent SA国际影视传媒� over Poilievre. It is clear Poilievre canSA国际影视传媒檛 hold a candle to Carney when it comes to education, skills, experience, accomplishments or leadership.

There's less than a week left till voting day. Running out of time to turn things around, Poilievre is reverting to his preferred approach as a ripper and is trying to smear Carney SA国际影视传媒� the classic far-right politics of personal destruction.

Those are also the politics of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is a big-time ripper. With his wrecking ball style of politics, he has done his best to destabilize and attack Canada with his global economic war and threats to Canadian sovereignty. Active disinformation campaigns are underway by groups such as 'Canada Proud,' trying to discredit Carney. Social media is the vehicle of choice where all this is happening 24 hours a day, seven day a week.

Nasty, American-style politics is here. It feels like they are putting a gun to our heads SA国际影视传媒� vote for Poilievre or else. Trump denied knowledge of the extreme right-wing Project 2025 manifesto till he was elected. Then all those extremists came out of the shadows and into positions of power to implement Project 2025 with lightning speed, maximum damage, confusion and disregard for the rule of law. We are seeing that style of politics bleed over into Canada. Like the billionaires gathered around and supporting Trump, big money interests are gathering around and supporting Poilievre. In both cases, they're buying influence, access and, of course, hopes for massive wealth for themselves. At the same time, they would have us believe they have our best interests at heart. We only need to look south of the border to the social and environmental horrors that are being visited upon the average American and their country. It is not working well for them.

Back to rippers and weavers and what this all means for us in the NWT. The consensus-based system of government in the NWT promotes a culture of weavers. We have learned over the years that that no one government can successfully go it alone. This is why a territorial leaders table has been established and why the Thebacha Leaders Council was formed in the Thebacha riding. As of April 29, we need to be able to hit the ground running. It is imperative that the governments of Canada, including Indigenous governments, work together to start delivering on the national to-do list. That list will strengthen CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 sovereignty, enhance our security, especially in the North, and create the conditions for our economy to be efficient, effective and resilient.

In the NWT, that means creating the conditions for an expedited process to build projects of national interest, such as the Mackenzie Valley Highway; a road through the Slave Geologic province; developing the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link to capacity; fully develop InuvikSA国际影视传媒檚 advantage as the key hub for Arctic security; positioning Aurora College to train a broadly-based Northern workforce, and settling land claims to promote political peace and economic certainty.

For that we need a prime minister who is a weaver, not a ripper.