(LifeSiteNews) — Ontario Premier Doug Ford encouraged Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre to abandon Conservative values if he wants to become prime minister.

In a July 16 interview with the Calgary Herald, Ford discussed shifting the Conservative Party platform to a more centrist position in order for Poilievre to win more Canadian votes in the next election.

“It can’t be one extreme or the other extreme. You can’t be far left or hardcore right,” he asserted.

“I would always promote being a fiscal conservative, but you’ve got to have a social heart too. You can’t be hardcore right. That’s not Canada, hardcore right,” Ford continued.

“And you can’t just govern based on your personal beliefs,” he added, claiming that the path to power in Canada is to “govern based on what the people want. That’s how you get elected. You can’t be radical left or radical right.”

Indeed, Ford himself can hardly be called a Conservative. Between his ruthless COVID mandates, abortion support, and implementation of LGBT propaganda in school libraries, Ford is difficult to tell apart from his Liberal counterparts.

Ford’s close and friendly relationship with Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney has also led Canadians to consider his true motives.

Ford also appeared to take a not-so-subtle jab at Poilievre’s previous experience, saying, “There should be a law you can’t be prime minister unless you’ve been involved in a business at a high level, running it.”

“You have to be able to understand meeting a payroll, meeting expenses, putting a marketing plan together. You have to understand procurement,” he continued.

“He’s going to bring private-sector people in there and he’s going to clean house,” Ford said of Carney.

Is Poilievre a true Conservative?

However, it is unclear how Poilievre could become more Liberal, since he has already abandoned most traditional Conservative values.

Indeed, Poilievre described himself as “libertarian-minded” to media outlets when he first became an MP in 2004.

During his time in office and throughout his rise to Conservative leader, Poilievre has slowly abandoned traditional Conservative values, especially related to abortion and family issues.

Poilievre’s election platform pledged to uphold abortion until birth in Canada. Additionally, Poilievre delayed defending children from the worst effects of the LGBT agenda until he felt that public opinion was with the pro-family movement.

The Conservative leader is known for waiting to make strong statements until after the public reacts. In fact, in February, Poilievre muzzled his own MPs from speaking about Alberta’s ban on “transitioning” kids, only to come out days later in favor of the move after public support for Alberta’s policy rolled in.

Despite his statements in favor of the pro-family movement’s opposition to puberty blockers, he has refrained from pledging any action if he were elected prime minister, choosing instead to insist that such matters are best left under provincial jurisdiction.

Essentially, the only Conservative aspect of Poilievre’s platform is his financial position, which calls for decreased government spending, the abandonment of the carbon tax, and building more homes. Poilievre also promised to oppose “mandatory” digital IDs and any form of a digital dollar.

Indeed, Poilievre and his team almost appear scared to be branded as a Conservative despite being the Conservative Party. After the election, well-known American political commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan revealed that Poilievre was prevented from appearing on his podcast after his handlers got involved.