The resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spurred the need for an early election here in Canada. While the country has been pinning for the opportunity to turf Trudeau for some time now, the timing could not be worse. The United States, Canada’s essential trading partner, is looking to leverage its economic strength for whatever concessions it can exact from an economically weakened Canada. Trump’s go to low ball negotiation strategy has opened with making Canada the 51st state. But before America takes Canada anymore for granted, it’s worth showing Americans how an election with a plurality of political party choices is superior to there outdated, either or contests
As a fiscal conservative - social progressive, I struggled with the only two choices presented to Americans. Thankfully, there will be no soul searching in the upcoming Canadian election for this dual citizen. All three of the centre-left party choices in Canada couldn’t manage a lemonade stand, let alone a national economy without spiralling it into crippling debt. The centre- right Canadian Conservative party offers all the fiscal restraint and superior economic policies to wake the country out of its Liberal induced coma. They are also a party that celebrates the importance of legal immigrants and respects people’s personal freedoms. Their leader, Pierre Poilievre's own personal story demonstrates a man of progressive character.
Poilievre has been able to grab the centre in Canada, since it has been abandoned by the Liberals with Trudeau’s move to the left (aligning itself with the New Democrats and following extreme Green Party policies) ceding the middle ground to the Conservatives. It will be interesting to see if all the choices on Canada’s political left are even able to distinguish themselves from one another in the upcoming election.
Now let’s look at the racist, anti-immigration vitriol coming from Maxime Bernier, the leader of Canada’s far-right “People’s” Party. It is not unlike some of the dog whistle rhetoric that Trump has been known to spew while campaigning. The advantage that non -immigrant hating conservative Canadians enjoy over their politically like minded, American cousins is that they will not have to wrestle with their conscience or rationalize their choice of sharing their political bed with haters.
Of course that won’t stop partisans on the left from trying to paint all conservatives and their leader as being Canada’s version of Trump’s MAGA. The trouble with the paint in that brush is that it doesn’t follow the political realities of electoral choices on Canada’s right. The extremist, anti immigrant crowd has their party in Bernier and the PPC. The two parties are much further apart ideologically than any of the plethora of socialist options on the left.
While some may lament the existence of fringe political parties, I believe they serve a vital role in a healthy democracy and society by having more people, even haters, politically engaged. This way they are at least out in the open and can have their ugly, marginal say. Once removed from the shadows and exposed politically, a period of reckoning and enlightenment can begin. They will soon see that while their views are extreme their numbers are not.
Canada’s parliamentary system of political choice is not without its own shortcomings. While Canadians enjoy a number of political party choices, many find it frustrating that they are unable to vote directly for their chosen party leader and will sometimes struggle over which party candidate to support locally. Canadians also like Americans have a problem with being governed by a politically appointed, unelected Senate.
So whenever this great merger occurs, perhaps we can take the best of each system. In the meantime, I will enjoy the plethora of political choices afforded in the upcoming Canadian election. In today’s world of absolutes, it is refreshing to have the nuance and context that an array of political choice provides. Just imagine what path Americans would have chosen if they had the all choices Canada takes for granted.
Written By Gregory Cawsey - Human.
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