Winds of anger on the Canadian right

A wind of anger is blowing on the Canadian right: it has already carried off Jason Kenney – who until recently was considered the intellectual leader of Canadian conservatism. It is the same anger that is driving Pierre Poilievre to the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Canada is not alone: ​​it is the anger that still keeps Trumpism alive despite the defeat of Donald Trump. It was anger that brought Marine Le Pen to 42% of the vote in the second round of the French presidential election. It is the anger that was also behind the sulphurous Éric Zemmour, before the fire went out. It is also the one that brought Brexit and Boris Johnson to the United Kingdom.

Anger that does not necessarily have a common denominator except that it targets elites of all kinds and is expressed above all by those who feel they have no voice in the matter.

In North America, this discontent was recently expressed by the refusal of health measures – in particular vaccination – which were imposed to counter the pandemic. While some have seen it as a necessary state intervention to save lives, others will have seen it as an imposition by the state of an unacceptable intrusion into the privacy of citizens.

This is certainly one of the causes of the revolt of the Conservatives in Alberta which led Premier Jason Kenney to resign after a confidence vote of 51%, which he deemed insufficient.

Mr. Kenney, however, indicated that he would remain prime minister until a new leader was elected. On Saturday, he announced that he will not be a candidate for his own succession.

But whatever the outcome of the battle for Alberta, one thing is certain: the anger of the Alberta Conservatives who showed Mr. Kenney the door is real, and it threatens quite a bit of anyone who would ignore it.

In an article that got a lot of coverage this week, former Stephen Harper adviser Sean Speer said those who voted against Mr. Kenney were a “fearful, angry and undefined minority. what is good and just, but only through a culture of conflict and opposition”.

This definition can very well be applied to several movements that we have seen in our country as much as everywhere on the planet.

In Europe, as we saw in the recent French presidential election, we played on the divide between “France from above and France from below”. The powerful who have access to power, money and the media and those who have none of that. With the fear of foreigners who want to take the place and prepare a “great replacement”…

Less racism, it looks a lot like the speech that is bringing Pierre Poilievre to the head of the Canadian Conservative Party. The member for Carleton pejoratively uses the word “gatekeepers” (for which I am still looking for a translation…) to describe all those who prevent ordinary citizens from having access to power.

Obviously, it’s a bit in the nature of the character, Mr. Poilievre went too far in promising to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada and promoting cryptocurrencies to “free” Canadians from the grip of the Bank of Canada.

One would have thought that after the last debate of the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, Mr. Poilievre or some of his supporters would have understood that this speech could alienate many voters who, even if they are rather tired Liberals, are not necessarily going to vote for such extreme ideas.

But it was quite the opposite. Poilievre supporters in the Conservative caucus won the head of the party’s financial critic, former foreign trade minister Ed Fast, who had to resign for criticizing Mr Poilievre’s position on the Bank of Canada. “I got to the point where I couldn’t do my job anymore,” Fast said.

While it appears the Conservative Party of Canada wants to have its “Poilievre moment,” there is no indication that this is the path to long-term success.

Anger and resentment are powerful drivers in politics for those who are able to understand and express them. But it is rarely a political program that allows for real and lasting solutions to be put in place.

Donald Trump only served one term, even though he still says he won the last election. Marine Le Pen failed a second time to win the French presidency. And, in Ontario, it is a moderate Conservative – or who has learned to be one – who is in the process of being re-elected premier of the most populous province.