Trump is demanding universities change policies or face defunding. Would Poilievre do the same?

U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening to cancel funding for some universities unless they accede to his demands to change ideological policy, similar to a pledge Pierre Poilievre has made for Canadian post-secondary schools.

But so far, the Conservative leader has been sparse on details of exactly what kind of action he might take.

Trump's demands, which have sparked condemnation about interference in academic freedom, made headlines this week after the White House said it's freezing more than $2.2 billion US in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University.

This came after Harvard president Alan Gerber refused to comply with the White House demands, saying in a letter that the university "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."

Poilievre, meanwhile, has also threatened to defund universities over what he perceives as their ideological slant. In a Christmas Eve tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, Poilievre said he would "defund wokism and fight antisemitism."

That tweet was linked to a telephone interview he gave WinnipegJewishReview.com in which he was quoted as saying he won't tolerate and will defund "all of those with a woke antisemitic agenda," including universities that receive federal funding and all federally funded museums. 

He reiterated a similar pledge on March 26 when the party released its Quebec platform, saying a Conservative government would "put an end to the imposition of woke ideology in the federal civil service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research."

The pledge prompted the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) to release a statement "expressing alarm" over Poilievre's promise to interfere in the allocation of federal research funding.

"It's worrying that a leader of a political party in Canada would try to dictate how research funds will be granted," said David Robinson, CAUT's executive director. "We've seen the impact of this political meddling south of the border where the Trump administration has launched a full-scale assault on universities and the scientific community. This kind of American-style culture war has no place in Canada."

Beginning with Columbia University, the Trump administration has rebuked post-secondary institutions across the U.S. over their handling of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled campuses last year following the 2023 Hamas-led attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Trump has called the protests anti-American and antisemitic, accused universities of peddling Marxism and "radical left" ideology, and promised to end federal grants and contracts to universities that do not agree to his administration's demands.

On April 3, the White House issued a list of demands to Harvard that included a ban on face masks, limitations on campus protests and a review of academic departments' biases. About a week later, those demands were expanded to include leadership reforms, changes to admission policy and an end to the university's recognition of certain student organizations.

The school's president said Harvard has already made extensive reforms to address antisemitism, but that many of the government's demands don't relate to antisemitism and instead are an attempt to regulate the "intellectual conditions" at Harvard.

While Poilievre has not released any details of his proposed plans, he still seems to be taking lessons from the U.S. with threats to defund, said Patrick McCurdy, an associate professor of communication at the University of Ottawa.