Canada to United States: We’re Ready for Your Authoritarian Shift

Like the rest of the world, Canada is watching the 2024 US presidential election with bated breath, drinking a can of Molson Canadian and munching on poutine in the process. The Liberal government appears to believe its own state-funded media's propaganda about the United States potentially metastasizing into a far-right authoritarian dystopia should a certain Republican regain the keys to the White House. The irony is that Ottawa has been dismissing its own use of the iron fist over the last few years.

Canada Is Watching America

In an Aug. 17 French radio interview in Montreal, Quebec, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly revealed that the federal government has a "game plan" for how Ottawa would respond if next year's presidential election results in a far-right and authoritarian shift. "We are certainly working on scenarios," the Liberal Member of Parliament and former Montreal mayoral candidate told La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé. "In general, there is our game plan, precisely to be able to manage what could be a rather difficult situation. I will work with my colleagues and with the mayors, the provincial premiers, with the business community, with the unions, with everyone in the country, so that we are ready regardless of the election outcome."

But while discussing the potential outcome of the 2024 election south of the border, Joly also warned that Canada could face the same “radicalization” threat at home, pushing a conspiracy theory that Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre is advancing a far-right agenda. "So one can’t be naive here, Patrick; it’s happening right now with us, there is, we know that there is certainly a radicalization of the Conservative Party," she said. Indeed, Joly and her fellow Grits are taking a page out of the playbook of other mainstream media outlets, proclaiming that anyone to the right of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau belongs to the far right. Of course, the Liberal government needs to tout any odious description of its chief opponent as the Tories lead in the polls, and Trudeau tries to defend a questionable near-decade-long record. Poilievre's Conservatives are leading by ten points, according to the latest Abacus Data survey.

Canada’s Radical Transformation

For the first time in history, it is safe to say that Canada has captured the international spotlight – for the wrong reasons. The rest of the world saw a glimpse of what Trudeaumania 2.0 is all about. The trucker convoy, a nationwide demonstration against Ottawa’s vaccine mandates and public health restrictions, resulted in the federal government taking unprecedented action against peaceful dissidents. From confiscating protesters’ bank accounts to locking up two of the leaders, the prime minister pulled out all the stops against political opponents.

Of course, the Canadian people have witnessed what Trudeau is capable of, despite campaigning on Care Bare politics and promising “sunny ways.” Since succeeding Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he has overseen several developments that the modern generation of voters had never observed in the Great White North: surging crime, rampant price inflation, housing affordability issues coast to coast (not just Toronto and Vancouver), $2 trillion national debt, a do-nothing carbon tax, the growth of assisted suicide, and a health care system on the brink of collapse.

The lack of ethics also has been prevalent throughout the Trudeau government. In December 2017, the office of the independent ethics commissioner sanctioned Trudeau, ruling that he violated conflict of interest rules when he accepted a vacation in 2016 on a private island owned by the Aga Khan – whose foundation was formally registered to lobby Trudeau and his officials. In August 2019, the ethics watchdog declared that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) breached ethics rules by interfering in the justice system to help SNC-Lavalin Group, a major construction company. It was learned that the firm paid bribes to former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi to secure contracts in the African country, violating Canadian law. The PMO pressured federal prosecutors to avoid a corruption trial, resulting in a settlement and guilty plea. Trudeau apologized and defended the actions by saying he tried to save jobs – this was heading into an election, too!

Earlier this year, Trudeau named former Governor General David Johnston as an independent special rapporteur to investigate foreign interference in Canadian democracy. It was alleged in an intelligence report that China had played a role in the 2019 and 2021 elections and tried to sway outcomes in favor of Trudeau's Liberals. The problem? Johnston is a Trudeau family friend and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation member. He was also appointed by Trudeau in 2018 to be the nation's first-ever federal Leaders’ Debates Commissioner.

Just Incredible

For years, the rest of the world viewed Canada as a quiet, safe, and affordable place. The country enjoyed all the benefits of being the neighbor to the world’s largest economy without maintaining any of the toxic politics. What a difference nearly a decade can make. Indeed, modern ex-prime ministers had a treasure trove of faults, from Stephen Harper breaking electoral rules to Jean Chretien and the $300 million sponsorship scandal. But has Canada ever endured anything like Justin Trudeau? Maybe the 2025 election will answer this question.