Pierre Trudeau was arguably the most ideologically left-leaning prime minister Canada ever had. He was often blunt-speaking and rarely backed down in any debates. But even Pierre Trudeau wouldn’t dare embrace the label of being a socialist, and he vehemently denied being a socialist when accused of such.
Political times and ideological leanings have certainly changed when we see a senior government cabinet minister proudly declaring himself a socialist. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault didn’t beat around the bush in the House of Commons when he said, “I’m a Liberal and a proud socialist” in response to a question from a Conservative MP. Such a statement would have been a potential career-killer for any politician outside of the NDP only a decade ago. Today though, it barely merited the raised eyebrows of political watchers.
