Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been on a rampage inside the US federal government, laying off hundreds of thousands of workers, dismantling programs that provide people with lifesaving vaccines, and sparking nationwide protests amid steep cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Social Security, and other arms of government that help keep the country functioning.

Across the border in Canada, leading conservative voices and representatives from major tech and fossil fuel companies see much they admire. They believe the country should do its own version of DOGE and see potential to move faster than Musk in eviscerating the federal bureaucracy should Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who draws frequent comparisons to Donald Trump, win Canada’s election on April 28.

“There’s no reason why we can’t move more quickly,” declared Ian Brodie, a University of Calgary professor who was chief of staff to former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, at the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference, a gathering of conservative movement leaders and allies in Ottawa this month.