Donald Trump may just cost Canada’s Conservatives the election
Donald Trump may just cost Canada’s Conservatives the election
The President’s bombastic rants leave Pierre Poilievre’s party in an unenviable position
Poilievre has an incredibly lucky moment right now. Never has a Canadian leader had a moment like this, in the last century, maybe ever. He has a fantastically weak Liberal leader that has dragged his party down, and a disastrous US leader who threatens Canada. All Poilievre has to do is step in front of all of this and present a unifying vision. But he can't do it. He's incapable of being a leader. He can't seem to put his petty politics of anger aside and face the reality that the country has an existential threat and that the priorities have changed. Even when he proposes something reasonable (Arctic defense) he has to borrow a Trump move to get there (decimate foreign aid, even though soft power and diplomacy is the reason we have any friends at all right now). He is the very epitome of short term, ideological thinking. Ultimately he represents the populist right wing that will exacerbate wealth inequality and the resulting oligarchy..and we can all see the endgame of this movement playing out to the south of us.
No fucking thank you.
The only upside of Trump's presidency is that it is a stark warning to other democracies around the world that it could very well happen to them also soon, and they'd better get their shit together before it does.
Hungary should have been a warning sign, but the US is a lot more visible and a lot more frightening when it falls into this trap.
In Germany we're having an election this month and I unfortunately don't feel much of that spirit. The far right populists are more or less at an all time high and the conservatives are the strongest party in the race.
Additionally, the conservatives are openly and explicitly imitating Trump's antics. "On my first day as chancellor I will..." - No you won't, that's not how it works here.
Well, Germany has the same problem as the US: Musk.
Elon has been pouring his support (and god knows how much illicit money) behind the AfD, to get fascists elected there. Same in Canada, same in the UK.
Hopefully Canadians don't have that short of a memory. Giving the power back to the same team that put us in this position to start with is the definition of insanity. Just ask Einstein.
While it gives me hope, I am still very genuinely worried that when the election is in full swing there will be extensive foreign meddling in the campaigns and media. Especially considering American oligarchs control mainstream social media exclusively now.
Hopefully them Connies and Libruls see this as a signal to change they right-leaning ways and start standing up for the good of the middle class, at the moment one only gives handouts to the rich, and the other to the poor, both at the middle class's expense, howsabout we start seeing positive change for all of us for once eh?
I don't know. Listening to PP on the radio the other day was, as usual, brain cell melting.
"We are under attack from the south! They are putting America first! Therefore We need to"put Canada First!" (Not a direct quote, was a soundbite on the 4pm CBC news radio as best I recall it)
Sir... When your idiot neighbours are in a democratic spiral to hell, maybe DON'T try and steal their slogans. I'm no political analyst but it's ....possible... the strategies they are using are at best ineffective.
Well I don't know, have Canadians considered that their liberals aren't perfect so they should fight tooth and nail to make sure the alt right gets elected instead?
/s
I'll hold my nose and vote Liberal if it means no Conservatives. I am a leftist and vote NDP in a very lefty city, but Jagmeet is not really doing a good job keeping the party afloat and it's kind of in the weeds at the federal level. I think the only way Polievre will win at this point is if he promises to close the door to most immigration save for the highly skilled people we need, because wow do Canadians ever hate immigrants now. (Not that immigration doesn't need reform but I've never seen such naked hatred of them in my whole life here). if he promised housing reform that would help him a lot, but he'll never deliver on that. Also a lot of immigrants are more conservative and will probably vote for him, so he would cut off his nose to spite his face if he shut them out. I live next to a Sikh neighbourhood and they all seem to vote conservative.
@anachronist Hmmmm I’m just remembering that Justin Trudeau at least twice mentioned in his ‘tariffs’ speech how they might affect US Orange juice imports into Canada!
That euphomism missed me at that time!
Trump's antics being good for North America was not on my bingo card. During negotiations with Mexico he also promised to reduce guns flowing into Mexico.
While I am left leaning currently no liberal wants to protect legal-firearm owners. Every gun-ban they issue doesn’t do anything to stop criminals from obtaining illegal firearms.
Your title doesn't make sense, why didn't you use the original?
I was just amazed that The Donald might actually manage to work his magic and come up with a way for the liberals to win. An astonishingly remarkable performance from the grand master.
What makes you think Trump is changing the outcome? Are polls shifting?
Yes, they are. Recent polls have shown a strong swing towards the Liberals. They're not in the lead yet, but the current trend is that direction, and that's without them even having a selected leader yet. Polls asking about hypothetical elections where Carney is the leader actually put them in a dead heat with the Conservatives (and unlike the US, in Canada its the Liberals who have the vote distribution advantage, so ties go their way more often than not).
one shows a combined shift of about 13 percent. Polls are polls, they're a dime a dozen. but the effect is immediately noticeable.
Also, Poilievre's message is that Canada is broken and divided, but I think people are seeing what broken really looks like and Trump's tariffs has unified the country in a single weekend.
It definitely gives me hope that I didn't have before but we can't just ride off that alone