THUNDER BAY -- In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s stunning rise to the United States presidency, could a similar phenomenon happen north of the border?
A Lakehead University professor of political science says it’s unlikely, at least in the fashion that led to Trump’s election over Democratic Party nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But economically the message could resonate with voters like it did in the U.S. driving them to the polls in support of Trump.
Laure Paquette on Wednesday said she’s doubtful the blatant racism that fuelled much of his support would be tolerated.
In fact, it many cases it would be illegal.
“No one in Canada is going to accept the kind of racist, misogynist rhetoric that we heard from Mr. Trump during the campaign,” Paquette said.
“Innumerable times he said things that would have ended a Canadian politician’s career.”
It didn’t stop Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch from suggesting she wants to appropriate much of Trump’s message in her bid to head the party.
“Tonight, our American cousins threw out the elites and elected Donald Trump as their next president. It’s an exciting message and one that we need delivered in Canada as well. It’s the message I’m bringing with my campaign to be the next prime minister of Canada,” Leitch said in a letter to potential supporters.
Paquette said Leitch, on record saying she wants to screen immigrants for anti-Canadian values, is only seeing what she wants to see.
“First of all, I think she’s misreading the situation. They didn’t throw out the elites. They picked an outsider for president, but at every other level they confirmed the insiders.”
However, many of the economic issues that drove voters to the polls do exist in Canada, and in Thunder Bay, where the collapse of the forestry industry left many blue-collar workers without a way to earn a living wage.
“Mr. Trump puts his finger very specifically on the disappearing middle class, the put-upon working class, who feel they have no opportunities and no future and whatever economic recovery or growth occurs bypasses them,” Paquette said.
“That’s very real. It’s in Canada too and whoever figures that out first, the federal Conservatives or otherwise is going to reap the fruits of that. That’s how we got Brexit and that’s the card the ultra-nationalist parties are playing in France and Holland.”
