- Canada’s far right unable to divide the electorate
Justin Trudeau has won a second term in office as Canadian PM after a hard-fought election over the course of which his prospects of success had diminished considerably. Mr Trudeau had won previously in 2015 on a platform of change with a progressive agenda, taking over after a decade of conservative control. But soon after getting into office he had a hard time pleasing both sides of the spectrum as he introduced a carbon tax and permitted a pipeline that irked environmentalists. As reelection approached he was faced with a political scandal involving his attorney general who was accused of providing judicial relief to an engineering firm, SNC-Lavalin that had allegedly paid bribes to Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi to secure contracts. Mr Trudeau maintained throughout that there was nothing illegal about what his administration did. Closer to this election an old picture of him at a party wearing ‘black face’ (make-up to resemble as a person of colour) surfaced that severely damaged his chances for a win, dividing his base of liberals who are ultra-sensitive on race issues. Mr Trudeau repeatedly apologized for his actions. All this has resulted in the Liberal Party securing only a minority government, falling short of the 170 seats required for a majority. He will now have to work with other likeminded parties to the left that includes the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh, a practising Sikh, who is the first person of color to head a federal political party in Canada’s history.
However fragile this victory may be, it is a welcome break from democracies across the world leaning towards right-wing parties to lead them. ‘Trumpism’, an election strategy of demagoguery, has been executed successfully by Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Philippines’ Duterte and has been partially successful in the EU with nationalist hardliners gaining prominence in EU’s Parliament. Canada’s far-right has however been unable to divide the populace as evidenced by hardliner nationalist Maxime Bernier’s– leader of the People’s Party of Canada– defeat in Quebec, with the party unable to win even single seat in Parliament. Overall it’s a win for progressive liberals and a rejection of populist regressive nationalism.
