The Trumpification Of Canadian Politics

Canadian politics have become Trumpified. Michael Harris writes:

The same distemper abroad in the U.S. has already made an appearance here. No one talks much about the Freedom Convoy’s purpose in occupying Ottawa for three painful weeks. They wanted to change the government. They wanted a weird configuration of a truckers’ committee, opposition parties, and the governor general to run the show— without the untidy necessity of getting elected. They wanted to depose Justin Trudeau.

And the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada took up at least part of their cause. As Jean Charest said during the recent CPC leadership race, “You can’t be a leader of a party, and the chief legislator of the country as prime minister, and support people breaking the laws. That disqualifies you.”

Except that it didn’t. With the public endorsement of former prime minister Stephen Harper, Poilievre ran away with the Conservative leadership.

The path that Poilievre is forging is not the traditional path in Canadian politics:

Unlike his immediate predecessors—Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole—Poilievre hasn’t moved to the centre in hopes of attracting new supporters. If anything, he has moved solidly to the right. He showed that when he supported the private member’s bill of Kelly Block, a social conservative from rural Saskatchewan. Block wanted a change to the Criminal Code to protect the “conscience rights” of health professionals.

If this bill had passed, (it didn’t) it would have made it an offence to intimidate or fire a health-care worker who refused to provide a medically assisted death or make a referral.

Just two problems with that approach. First, as reported by The Globe and Mail, there is nothing in the current legislation that forces medical professionals to take part in a medically assisted death. And second, the Court of Appeal in Ontario has already ruled that allowing doctors to opt out of making referrals would in fact stigmatize patients and restrict their access to legal medical services.

In the U.S., Trump and his MAGA movement have placed themselves above the law, demonized their opponents, declared war on the media, and promised to free Americans from oppressive government. Here’s Poilievre in his own words: “The Liberals want to stop me from becoming prime minister because they know I will get rid of their gatekeepers, defund the CBC, abolish mandates, and make Canada the freest country on Earth so you can take back control of your life.”

Sounds a lot like Donald Trump, doesn't it?

Image: twitter