Commentary
Justin Trudeau wants Donald Trump to do well. He wants him to stay prominent in the news and keep rising in popularity.
This isn’t because the Canadian prime minister is personally aligned with Trump’s politics. Far from it. They’re on opposite ends of the political spectrum, with Trudeau moving ever further leftward.
It’s also not because he believes former President Trump returning to the White House would be good for cross-border relations. The reasons are far more cynical.
Trudeau wants to use the prospects of a second Trump term to attack his leading Canadian political opponent, Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre.
The Liberals want to fearmonger about Trump, claim that Poilievre is just a copycat of the Donald and that the only way to save us from “MAGA North” is by electing Trudeau for yet another term.
This isn’t a prediction of things to come. They’re already doing it.
Postmedia columnist Brian Lilley looked at the Hansard for Parliament and found that the term “MAGA” has been used a total of 57 times since Trudeau became PM in 2015.
While the shorthand began as the simple abbreviation of “Make America Great Again,” to call someone MAGA has become a term of either endearment or a slur, depending on your views on Trump. The Liberals use it as a slur.
Here’s the thing about those 57 times: 55 of them happened since Parliament resumed in September and 44 of those were in the two weeks before the Christmas break.
They’re ramping up their “MAGA” attacks. This is clearly an orchestrated message campaign.
Lilley cited one example from Dec. 13, when Trudeau said in the House of Commons that “the ideologically driven MAGA Conservatives are calling for pollution to be free again.”
Trudeau was upset that his beloved carbon tax was up against the ropes yet again, with the opposition calling for the tax to be taken off for farmers.
It’s quite something for the Liberals to engage in flat-out name-calling. It’s one thing for online Liberal proxies to deride the opposition as “MAGA Conservatives.” When the PM himself does it though, it’s just juvenile. It would be like if Poilievre started calling the Prime Minister “Trudope” in the House of Commons and other such names you see bandied about on social media to criticize Trudeau.
This is clearly a desperate Hail Mary pass on the part of the federal Liberals. If Trudeau believed he could win re-election on his record or on selling a positive vision of Canada, then that is what he would be focused on. The polls show that ship has likely sailed.
Trudeau’s popularity is down and Poilievre’s support is way up. It’s been that way for months. Public impressions are now baked in. People have a favourable view of Poilievre and have grown tired of Trudeau.
Expect the Liberals to keep hammering home this point. The question though is whether or not it will work.
While Trump remains deeply polarizing, his popularity is growing. A new USA Today poll shows that he is now ahead of President Biden in support from both Hispanic voters and the young 18-34 demographic, which are both traditionally Democratic supporters. If there is any spillover to Canada, with Canadians slightly improving their perspectives on Trump, the Liberal plan to fearmonger over Trump may not have as much traction as they think.
Besides, the plan could backfire regardless of Canadian views on Trump. The voters may just resent Trudeau trying to pull a stunt that they see as so desperate. They could find the tactic a disrespectful stretch.
Anyone who has even a casual familiarity with Canadian politics knows that the comparison between Trump and Poilievre isn’t a good fit. Sure, neither of them are “woke” and they’re both populist, but that’s about it.
Maybe the Liberals are just testing this message and will phase it out once they see it’s not a winner. Or maybe they’re going to go all-in, hoping that by repeating the line enough it will be taken as fact by swing voters. It could also just be an attempt to rile up the Liberal base.
Regardless, expect to hear the phrases “Trump” and “MAGA” a lot more in the House of Commons.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
