Justin Trudeau is brandishing -- rhetorically, at least -- his progressive credentials. His predecessors would not have lurched this far to the left. Chantal Hebert writes:
None of Trudeau’s predecessors embraced LGBTQ and abortion rights in the way he does. None described themselves as proactive feminists.
Chrétien and his immediate successor, Paul Martin, would have found doing so to be at odds with the task of leading a middle-of-the-road party.
Conservative pundit John Ivison -- unsurprisingly -- predicts that Trudeau's gambit will fail because:
“There is an absolute conviction that Canadians share Trudeau’s devotion, bordering on dogmatism, for an activist agenda to transform Canada into a more egalitarian society by government fiat.”
Trudeau has walked into traditional NDP territory:
Early on in his term, he became the first prime minister in 50 years to address a gathering of the Canadian Labour Congress. Such venues used to be the quasi-exclusive purview of NDP leaders.
But while Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland both delivered keynote speeches at the Unifor convention this week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh did not.
That's because Trudeau has his eye on the voters who put him in office the last time around:
In 2015, he brought the Liberals back to power on the shoulders of a coalition that included a critical number of younger voters.
This is a generation that has grown up with the notions of gender parity, equality in diversity, the right to choose whether to have an abortion or to marry a same-sex partner, and also with the issue of climate change.
Will it work a second time around? Stay tuned.
Image: CBC.ca
8 comments:
Abortion's been legal in Canada for 50 years and no federal politician is going to reverse that. Same with SSM, which has been the law of the land for almost 15 years. Supporting the status quo on these issues is no sign of being "too far to the left." In fact, only a small and shrinking number of far-right religious extremists still talk about these issues as though they're worth debating. Them and the media trying desperately to paint Trudeau as some kind of radical leftist, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Cap
I agree that Trudeau is not as far to the left as he would like you to think, Cap. But you can bet that there will be those who will try to paint him as a wild eyed radical.
Trudeau is no ground-breaker. Canada and our people have changed since the days of Mulroney/Chretien. A majority of us, at least, have become more tolerant, more inclusive, more socially progressive. Trudeau doesn't lead. He tests the water very carefully and then plunges his foot in as though it's a big deal. It isn't. He isn't.
Trudeau is reacting to a country that is more progressive than it used to be, Mound. Despite Stephen Harper's ten years in power, most Canadians have decided that Harper's view of the country isn't who they want to be.
You don't get any more radical than promising to reform this archaic electoral system. How left was that? Hell I voted for him including Leona Alseve in my riding. Look where that got me. Vote Green with a conscience for it is no longer a wasted vote.
That broken promise will come back to haunt Justin, zoombats.
I have been waiting all my life to say this with a straight face.
Zoombats! You're right!
The proportional representation thing was a deal breaker for me.
I think political situations all over the world are going to be fluid ... the rest of my life. Oh for the days of the Lougheed <-> Trudeau debates about Canada's and Alberta's future. It does seem quaint, doesn't it?
j a m e s
We live in a time when voters are cynical about the status quo, james. Where it will all lead is hard to predict.
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