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Letter: Canada’s political shift

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Canada’s political shift: How a Conservative government could help Liberals rebuild without Trudeau

The most recent vote by the Liberal Party to remove Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the head of the party may not have been successful, but it showed the unrest that has begun to unfold in parliament. 

Canada’s political climate is worsening, and the impending collapse of the current liberal party and the New Democrats learning about independent thinking isn’t helping. 

Leaders of the main parties are increasingly visible in the media. Jagmeet Singh’s behavior, both inside and outside the House of Commons, Pierre Poilievre’s’ aggressive smear campaigns against the Liberals, and Justin Trudeau’s efforts to maintain party unity have all drawn attention. 

2024 marks almost 9 years that the current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been in office as Prime Minister and the head of the Liberal Party. 

No matter what side of the bench you stand on, we know that a singular Prime Minister for an extended period of time can be detrimental to a country. 

Prime Ministers are known for being in office for quite a while, with the former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in office for almost nine years. 

Trudeau will soon reach that milestone and therefore start to show his expiry date to many members of his party, as well as many Canadians as well. 

Change in policy can be good, and in a country like Canada, where most of the large political parties sit on a similar side of the pendulum of political ideology, change can be just the right thing to move a country along. 

Unlike some other democracies, such as the United States, Canada places less emphasis on human rights laws and individual rights protection, largely due to the presence of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

Our political structure enables us to directly address pressing issues such as immigration policies, international relations, economic reforms, and wage regulations, reflecting the concerns of Canadians. 

Other countries, such as the United States, don’t have this luxury and spend time on issues that can drastically and directly affect their citizens. 

When comparing the political parties in the United States to those in Canada, it is evident that a significant number of prominent parties in both countries align with democratic or centrist ideologies, including the current conservative leadership in Canada. 

Therefore, with these similar ideologies, even a NDP voter or a Liberal voter can see the appeal of taking the reins as a minority party for the time being. 

This also makes leaders like Jagmeet Singh and Pierre Poilievre much more attractive candidates for the upcoming election, with many Canadians doubting the strength of the Liberal Party. 

Either way, this swing to the other side of the spectrum could allow for Canada to do a hard reset, just like we did in 2015, when switching from a Conservative Party leadership to Liberal. 

Trudeau’s government gave us many things to be thankful for and to be proud of as Canadians, but if we want to progress as a country, a hard reset on the current government can help us embrace new ideologies and still be able to fight for what our respective parties believe in. 

George Legler,  

Rossland