Importing political attack methods and even certain derogatory words from south of the border is becoming more frequent, but is it effective for Canadian parties?
The introduction of the term “weird” does not appear to have been organic, as it surged a week prior in Democratic circles in the United States to attack Republican opponents.
While apparently borrowing from the Democrats, the Liberals have often accused the Conservatives of bringing “American-style” politics to Canada. The term “MAGA,” Trump’s slogan meaning “Make America Great Again,” is often mentioned in House of Commons debates as a form of accusation.
Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen also often uses the term when talking about the Conservatives, saying in a post on X in December 2023 that Poilievre “supporters are MAGA supporters.”
American Politics
In the case of the “weird” strategy currently in vogue, Conrad Winn, a political science professor at Carleton University, says the Liberals saw the Democrats gaining new momentum by using it in relation to the Harris-Walz ticket, and now they’re running with it. Given the different context, however, he doesn’t see it as being effective.Winn says “American-style” politics—which can be marked by polarization, insults, and attack ads—are only moderately present in Canada, not just because Canadians are more politically moderate, but also because the legal system protects politicians against “extreme lies.”
“Americans have much more freedom to lie about a politician than Canadians have, and as a result American voters are less likely to believe an accusation against American politicians than Canadian voters are,” Winn told The Epoch Times. “And so their legal system helps explain the extremist character of political discussion in the United States.”
Accusations that a Canadian politician is importing U.S.-style politics go back decades, and also cut both ways.
More recently, then-Conservative Leader Erin O‘Toole said Trudeau was “importing American-style media manipulation” during the 2021 electoral campaign with an edited video of O’Toole’s stance on health care.
Influence
It’s a perspective shared by Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, who noted that other countries draw on how political campaigns are run in the United States.“If you look at campaigns in Brazil, or France, or Germany, or Italy, or Israel, they’re also influenced because the Americans have been leaders in so many ways in campaigning and campaigning styles, and things like polling research,” Wiseman said in an interview.
He also said Liberals share policy orientations with the Democrats and want to be associated with what they are saying and doing.
With regard to the latest trend of focusing on the word “weird,” however, Wiseman doesn’t think many Canadian voters will be swayed.
With the U.S. influence on Canadian politics being hard to avoid, political science professor Kathy Brock of Queens University says it’s not constructive for political rivals to accuse each other of drawing from our southern neighbour.
Accusing someone of employing American-style politics has been “used as a sloppy shorthand to dismiss political opponents in Canadian politics,” Brock told The Epoch Times.
She said contexts are different between Canada and the United States and that use of the term “obscures important differences among valid political ideas and positions.”
“This type of term dismisses the need for careful consideration of different perspectives and constructive compromises, and thus, indirectly contributes to the drift towards polarization and often false divisions among Canadian parties.”
Bringing down the temperature in politics and the House of Commons has been a recurring theme of late, and accusing someone of using U.S.-style politics implies that Canada’s political environment is more respectful and civilized.
Wiseman, however, says this is less true now than it was in the past. “If you watch Parliament, you would say our politicians are much less respectful, because the arguments they make are ad hominem.”
