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Yes, Leitch is a silent back bencher now and someone is challenging her for the CPC nomination in 2019. Brad Trost also has a primary challenge of sorts.
 
So why do you think the CPC is going Trumpian if the've derailed those two?

Though, I have to say, Trost for me at least seems somewhat reasonable. Leitch really was straight Trumpian during their leadership race.
 
The attitude coming from the party isn't a centre-right one. There is some right wing populism there too. As for Trost, he is a hard right social conservative in a party that doesn't want to talk about that stuff.
 
Well, there has been that tinge of populism about them ever since it became mostly ex-Reform. I do think they're trying--though having a hard go of it--to move away from some of their more unliberal tendencies. The old Reformists in the party ranks habe nowhere else to go so they're hard to be rid of and as long as they're there then their ideas on policy will leach out.
 
MTown said:
Well, there has been that tinge of populism about them ever since it became mostly ex-Reform. I do think they're trying--though having a hard go of it--to move away from some of their more unliberal tendencies. The old Reformists in the party ranks habe nowhere else to go so they're hard to be rid of and as long as they're there then their ideas on policy will leach out.
Click to expand...
The Reform was really about honesty and ethics.
They were created during the Mulroney era when a number of promises were broken and serious allegations about the PM. When the Liberals got in, all traditional parties, including both the PC's and the Bloc rallied around the Liberals to prevent this wave of honesty in government from taking hold. They did a good job, as Chretien was able to have a number of ethical scandals that didn't get much notice (at the time) because nobody, press or oposition, wanted the Reform to gain strength.
This is why when Harper got in he was so strong on ethics. Ministers were removed for $16 OJ (Oda), or excessive travel (MacKay), or carelessness of clarified documents (Bernier).
Now that the Liberals are back, these offenses appear tiny compared to the PM violating 4 Ethic Act laws, the finance minister being charged by the Ethics commissioner, Defense Minister who is using government jet at a rate 50% higher than MacKay, and expense scandals (Butts, Philpot) that make Oda look like a rounding error.

When it comes to the question of a Trump like politician in Canada - we have him in Justin Trudeau. Not very bright, not experience leading in government, and tries to do thing completely different than the last several leaders (there was much continuity from Chretien to Martin to Harper on economy, defense, etc. but Trudeau is 180 degrees different). Both also relied almost entirely on their social media status to get elected and both said stupid things during campaign. Both now appear mired in scandal - largely due to their arrogance and also lack of experience.
 
I was a bit young during the early years of Reform and though I did study poli sci at university, it was mostly political theory before I dropped out in second year so I don't know much about what the people involved were like. I do know--and you have confirmed it--that (since we're talking about being a Trumpian populist) they were all about "draining the swamp" and anti-establishment (their very name).

I can also say that we are in agreement re Liberals.

I wouldn't really call Trudeau Trump-like though. He may be self-important as all hell but the level of Trump's self-importance is exponentially higher as is his complete disregard for propriety.
Trudeau may be like an ideologically hopped-up teen who imagines himself to be the centre of existence but Trump is then a demented child.
 
I think that Trudeau would qualify as populist to some degree. It applies to left wing parties and causes too. However, he hasn't shown the level of authoritarianism and bigotry that Trump has. Where the PM is welcoming of diversity, Trump calls white supremacists "very fine people" and is harsher on minorities.
 
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