Article content continued

In his capacity as the minister responsible for the NCC, Poilievre will face some particularly thorny issues. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is expected to be among the first to knock on his door as he seeks to finalize a route for the city’s west-end light-rail transit line. The NCC has nixed the city’s plans for a 1.2-kilometre stretch of the western line, south of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, that it says will impede access to the river and obscure the view. The NCC wants the city to bury the section, but Watson says that option is too expensive.

Related

Poilievre must also manage the much-anticipated redevelopment of LeBreton Flats. In September, the NCC invited redevelopment proposals for up to 21.4 hectares of land on the site — and among the applicants are the owners of the Ottawa Senators. In concert with the NCC, Poilievre will have to decide whether LeBreton Flats is an appropriate home for an NHL arena.

The Minister:

Poilievre has the face of a choirboy and the heart of a political pit bull. Calgary-born, Poilievre was a competitive diver, hockey player and amateur wrestler before taking an early interest in politics. By the time he was in Grade 12, he was working for then-Reform MP Art Hanger. Poilievre studied international relations at the University of Calgary, where he once wrote an essay called If I Were Prime Minister, based on his ideas about personal income tax laws. He became a policy adviser to Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day, and in 2004, he orchestrated one of that year’s biggest election upsets by defeating then-Liberal defence minister David Pratt to capture the riding of Nepean-Carleton for the Conservatives. Poilievre was 25. He has won the riding in three subsequent elections.