A few days after last month’s Canadian election had delivered a minority victory to Mark Carney and the Liberal party, I got an email from someone I worked with when I lived in Virginia. They asked how I was feeling about the result, a big and complicated question.
Many Canadians I know feel immense relief at what they see as Canada’s rejection of the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre’s, Trump-style brand. But underneath it simmers dread about what might be coming down the pipeline.
After all, a good chunk of the country dislikes (and even despises) the Liberal party. There’s the comment I heard about leaving the country if the Liberals get re-elected. The disinformation-laced lament from a small business owner about refugees and “woke” ideology. The friend who insisted Carney, not Poilievre, is more Trump-like. The Conservative stronghold of Alberta is so upset with the result it might hold a referendum on leaving the country. Danielle Smith, Alberta’s far-right premier, said people in her province are “hurt and betrayed” that Canada re-elected the Liberals. Meanwhile, Poilievre has vowed to stay on as Conservative leader, with a pending byelection to secure him a seat in a reliably Tory riding.
This poor deluded woman is happy to have reelected the same evil clowns who have run Canada into the ditch this past decade.
