Suddenly, the World Economic Forum is a ballot box issue in a Manitoba byelection

Back in 2008, Maxime Bernier — as Stephen Harper's foreign affairs minister — went to Davos, Switzerland and set foot on the grounds of the World Economic Forum's annual conference. No one could have imagined at the time that he would one day be attacked publicly by his former party for being there.

Fifteen years after his trip to Davos, Bernier is running under the banner of his own party — the People's Party of Canada — in a byelection in the Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar. And the Conservative candidate has made the World Economic Forum a ballot box issue.

"Unlike Maxime Bernier, I will never attend the World Economic Forum or join up with groups who don't put Canada first," Branden Leslie tweeted last week.

Below that text was an image with the key message displayed in block letters: "I PROMISE I WILL NEVER ATTEND WEF."

The Conservative Party's pursuit of Bernier on this point predates the byelection.

"I think Maxime really has to come clean on why he attended the World Economic Forum, why he was involved in that," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told an interviewer in March.

Leslie's tweet got Bernier's attention. And when he responded by trying to parse the meaning of the word "attend" (his argument boiled down to the claim that he went to Davos to meet with other foreign ministers who happened to be there, not to actually attend the conference), the Conservative Party and Poilievre pounced.

"Maxime Bernier lied to cover up his involvement in the World Economic Forum," Poilievre tweeted.

For many Canadians — maybe the vast majority — this might seem like an an obscure and impenetrable debate. But a not-insignificant number of voters — especially on the right side of the political spectrum — seem to see it as a very relevant and important issue. 

The World Economic Forum might best be viewed as a fancy think tank. It has no real power but it publishes studies and policy papers. Each year, it also convenes a closely watched conference in Davos — several days of speeches, public discussions and private chats — that regularly attracts important political and business leaders from around the world, along with the odd socially conscious movie star.

It is both an impressive conglomeration of people and an easily mockable affair. If nothing else, it's a triumph of event planning.

There is much that one might criticize about "Davos" (the name of the town has become synonymous with the forum) and what it represents. But in recent years, the World Economic Forum has become a focal point for conspiracy theorists — the inspiration for a new wave of tales about powerful people conspiring in the shadows to impose their dark agenda on the masses, similar to the Trilateral Commission or the Bilderberg Group in previous eras.

Those conspiracy theories really picked up steam during the pandemic. Last year, the WEF factored into a tide of emails and phone calls that flooded the Senate when a bill concerning basic income was put up for consideration. The ethics commissioner was inundated with requests to investigate alleged links between parliamentarians and the WEF.

Poilievre alluded to one conspiracy theory when he denounced the "great reset" in November 2020. A year and a half later, while running for the Conservative Party leadership, he vowed that no cabinet minister in a government led by him would be allowed to attend the WEF's annual conference.