11 Comments
User's avatar
ABossy's avatar

“But this Trump-skepticism is relatively new.” Absolutely correct! I watched the last interview with Peterson including the paywalled last half-hour. There PP let loose and talked about how great it would be to partner with trump, how rich it could make us. The thing is, this was after it was already very apparent to anyone with a brain, that trump was not a normal president. PP was still thinking all we had to do was secure the border, and voilá, trump would be pleased to deal with us. Talk about slow-witted! Also there was the endorsement by elon. Once PP finally understood Canadians’ anti-US sentiments, he quickly changed his tune and started talking tough and patriotically. What a bum.

Expand full comment
Serge L.'s avatar

Love your work and this is a great article, but this was unnecessary:

"Nobody can doubt the sincerity of Poilievre’s desire to fight for the working class in Canada. And his criticisms of Trump’s tariff policy and unhinged threats to annex Canada are clearly genuine."

In fact I doubt the sincerity of everything that comes out of the mouth of this stage-managed basement dweller. He has had no problem letting foreign actors like Mike Roman or Indian "diplomats" undermine our democracy. He wants Canada to become like the USA. If Trump could make it happen while making him Governor, he'd be OK with it. As for the working class, he certainly wants to exploit their rage, but he has not plan or intention of improving their rights or their lives.

Expand full comment
Justin Ling's avatar

Ok, fair enough. Some people can doubt it: but I don't!

Expand full comment
ABossy's avatar

Well put.

Expand full comment
Sheila Petzold's avatar

I just don’t know why this connection hasn’t been made public before now. It’s been apparent with the relationships with US right wing CPAC convention that many Conservatives have gone to for years.

Expand full comment
Bohdan Gogus's avatar

Informative and timely

Expand full comment
Kathleen's avatar

Thanks for this Justin. Some insightful observations, however, you are very generous concerning PP's intentions. Certainly, he's all about power but he's also all about control which speaks to his use of phrases (slogans) that are cultural discrimination ('Woke'); 'Common Sense' - undefined but which discourages critical thinking. In fact he doesn't define anything. Regardless his "axe the tax' slogan he hasn't actually defined which tax? and taxes fund citizen services (healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc). This approach is very Trumpian in it's direct appeal to the 'working class' or at least hard-hat workers, when in fact he's a Milton Friedman capitalist, shilling for maximizing revenue and shareholder profits rather than better wages and working conditions. Now, Trump doesn't read while PP does, however the both of them are focussed on accumulating wealth as their prime purpose. They both take the 'populist' approach to politics and while Trump lies with abandon, PP obfuscates with repeated slogans. So, your take on how this might play out in dealing with Trump? You are generous. They both know didli about economics and they are both liars and bullies, however Trump/US has more might. Trump is Trumpier than PP.

Expand full comment
werdnagreb's avatar

I agree that PP is not as bad as Trump. But PP will definitely be taking us in Trump’s direction if he’s elected. That will only embolden the Canadians who *are* like Trump.

Expand full comment
Sheila Petzold's avatar

Just became aware of this. Is this book worth a read or at least a look?

https://breachmedia.ca/the-poilievre-project-by-martin-lukacs/

Expand full comment
Sepehr Gerami's avatar

Justin, you don't have to include bits telling us he's not like Trump. Even though it's clearly not your intent, it comes off as gaslighting.

Expand full comment
Justin Ling's avatar

It's not gaslighting. It's my perspective and analysis: you're free to have your own!

Expand full comment