Elon Musk offered praise for Canada’s Bitcoin-friendly opposition leader Pierre Poilievre early Tuesday, following days of the tech titan attacking European politicians.
Writing on his X social media platform (formerly Twitter), the Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted a widely-shared video of Poilievre explaining how the best way to combat inflation is to cut government spending—one of Musk’s own pet projects.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is running for Prime Minister after Justin Trudeau announced plans to resign Monday. Canadian voters are particularly concerned about the cost of living in the North American country, polls have shown.
“Perfectly articulated,” Musk wrote on the platform he owns.
Poilievre has been pro-Bitcoin for years, appearing on cryptocurrency podcasts and expressing his desire for Canada to be the “blockchain capital of the world.”
Back in 2022, the Conservative politician said that “Canadians should have the freedom to use other money, such as Bitcoin,” because the government was “ruining” the Canadian dollar.
Trudeau at the time slammed the comment as “reckless.” The current Canadian Prime Minister said Monday that he will resign once a successor is chosen.
Crypto bettors see Poilievre as the front-runner to be named Canadian Prime Minister following the upcoming elections. On prediction market Polymarket, he’s given an 89% chance of winning the role, well ahead of runner-up Chrystia Freeland.
Musk’s apparent endorsement of Poilievre might be related to billionaire’s own cost-cutting ambitions: Musk will play a big part in Donald Trump’s Republican administration by running a government department dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It will work to save money.
The idea has sparked enthusiasm among Dogecoin investors, who think it demonstrates Musk’s love for cryptocurrency. Musk has repeatedly tweeted about Dogecoin—which trades with the ticker DOGE—in the past, leading to huge jumps in its price.
Venture capitalist and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan on Tuesday claimed in a comment on the same video of Poilievre that cryptocurrency Dogecoin would go up in price if Musk’s cost-cutting policy is a success.
Musk replied to Tan: “If dollar inflation is solved, the price in dollars to buy cryptocurrency will actually drop, other things being equal.”
But despite the Dogecoin talk, Musk last year admitted that he isn’t “actively involved” in cryptocurrency—and just likes memes.
Musk last week repeatedly attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer—and other politicians—claiming they didn’t do enough to help victims of a grooming gang scandal. European politicians have since expressed alarm over the outspoken entrepreneur’s increasingly controversial antics.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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