Will Carney take on sacred cows? Getty Images
At a time when reason is desperately needed, Maxime Bernier has become one of only a few voices of reason in Canada. “We are not at risk. We are a sovereign country,” the leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) told me a few weeks ago.
Seeing an opportunity in hysterical claims that the country is “under attack” from its neighbour, the Liberal Party has rebranded as Team Canada, rallying the country around a patriotism it treated with disdain just a couple of years prior. Rather than lead with prudence, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has echoed the anti-Trump rhetoric. The propaganda machine is in full swing.
With an election coming in a few weeks, Canadians have been offered little more than political theatre. The two parties competing for power seem to have joined forces against an invented American enemy, allowing Canadians a distraction from the very real problems that exist in their own country. How have our memories been wiped clean so quickly?
Just a few months ago, the ruling Liberal Party appeared dead in the water. Trudeau had become the most hated Prime Minister in Canadian history and calls for his resignation were deafening. By June last year, polling showed that a majority of Canadians wanted him to step down. He couldn’t even go out in public without being screamed at by angry citizens.
Even former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had avoided criticising Trudeau to date, said the government had “denigrated” the country. Repeating what many of us had noticed, Harper said that Trudeau managed to stay in power thanks to a “media conglomerate” that “erased his every error” and “misrepresented his opposition”.
He was right. The already tiny Canadian media landscape was unabashedly biased in favour of Trudeau’s government, and against not just Poilievre’s Conservative Party, but any Canadian who did not subscribe to Trudeau-approved narratives. As the only party to mount a serious and unapologetic challenge to issues viewed as untouchable in Canada, the PPC was almost entirely erased from the conversation. Bernier was taking on many of the sacred cows politically homeless Canadians have been desperate to see addressed — things like gender identity ideology, climate change alarmism, and mass immigration. The PPC is a small party, but one Poilievre might take a page from: if he genuinely wants to lead the country down a different path.
Canada became evermore censorial under Trudeau’s reign, as dissent against the Covid mandates, gender identity ideology, and unevidenced claims about the supposed discovery of “mass graves” at old residential school sites was framed as dangerous hate speech.
Rather than encourage Canadians toward unity, Trudeau labelled those protesting the vaccine mandates as women-haters, racists and, science-deniers. Those of us fighting for parental rights and women-only spaces, and against the transitioning of children, were violent extremists akin to terrorists. Pointing out that no remains of buried indigenous children had been discovered at old residential school sites was referred to as “denialism,” rather than the truth.
Liberal authoritarianism peaked in 2022, when Trudeau famously went so far as to invoke the Emergencies Act and freeze the bank accounts of Freedom Convoy participants and supporters, all in an attempt to shut down the protests against the ongoing draconian mandates.
The Emergencies Act had never been used before in Canadian history. Its predecessor, the War Measures Act, was invoked only once during peacetime — by Justin’s father, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, in the Seventies. The Acts give sweeping powers to suspend civil liberties and democratic processes in the face of a dire threat to the security of the country.
At the time, Bernier spoke out unapologetically against “a series of violations of our fundamental rights and freedoms that a tyrannical government wants to keep in place by crushing dissent”. He made it clear that this was “not a state of emergency”.
And we are now seeing the same tactics being used again. In January, the Prime Minister announced he intended to resign. But only he didn’t, instead proroguing Parliament in order to avoid a vote of no-confidence. This gave him the opportunity to install his pick for the new leader of the Liberal Party, Mark Carney, and drum up yet another “emergency” in the form of a trade war. While party members are meant to vote on a new leader, it was immediately clear that Carney would be picked no matter what. He was suddenly giving interviews across North America as a “Canadian Official” (odd, considering no one had elected him as an official of anything).
Indeed, Carney was installed as Trudeau’s successor in March. Canada had a new Prime Minister, and with that, all was apparently forgotten by Canadians who simply didn’t like the idea of voting Conservative and were relieved to have an excuse to fall back into their comfort zones. There was “no turning back” now, Carney explained dramatically. “The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over.” It appeared half of Canada was thrilled at the prospect of a “war” with its bigger sibling.
In truth, as Bernier explained to me, “Trump does not want to invade our country militarily”. What Trump wants is a new deal — he wants to reopen the free trade agreement. And rather than sit down at the table and make a deal, the Liberals took the opportunity to fear-monger Canadians into believing they were the innocent victims of an unfair attack. In fact, it is the Liberal Party, not Trump, that started a commercial war — “a trade war that we won’t win” as Bernier put it.
This is merely another distraction at a time when we need a national reckoning. I told Bernier that I saw there was no PPC candidate running in my old riding in East Vancouver, one of the most Left-wing electoral districts. I had lived in the neighbourhood for 15 years, but eventually felt unsafe there. After I began speaking out against gender identity legislation and in defence of women’s spaces, the attacks on me were relentless. I’d been screamed at, threatened, and stalked while out and about — walking my dog or having drinks with friends. Many of my old friends refused to be seen in public with me anymore for fear of being cancelled by association. I left East Vancouver in early 2021, during the Covid lockdowns, foreseeing a dark future. Despite addiction, homelessness, mental health crises, and crime spreading across the area, the progressives who dominated politically held firm in their approach, which offered little more than clean pipes and free drugs. Issues like women’s sex-based rights had been completely wiped off the table. Once I left, it seemed that my efforts to force a debate left with me.
At the end of our conversation, I asked Bernier if he thought I should run, unsure in that moment if I was joking or not. He responded enthusiastically.
And because I’ve never been one to sit back and let the bullies win, I’ve decided to run as a PPC candidate. In a democracy, people should have the right to vote for something they believe in. And if I don’t show up and force a conversation, it just won’t happen. Women’s sex-based rights deserve to be an election issue and a topic of debate, whether the Leftist authoritarians of Canada like it or not. Free speech is only a lost cause in Canada if we don’t fight for it. There has to still be some fight left in us.
For far too long, Canadians have accepted a status quo where expression is suppressed and democracy stifled. There’s only one way to fix that: stand up, speak out, and refuse to be erased.
Meghan Murphy is a Canadian writer, host of the Same Drugs podcast and People’s Party of Canada candidate in Vancouver East.
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SubscribePeople may not get the govt they want, but they typically get the one they deserve in the West. Canada’s story, or parts of it, is echoed across Europe. It lives in parts of the US despite the American voters’ desire for substantive change to a broken system.
People know what to expect of Carney – more of what they had with Trudeau. How many Canadians truly want that, and by that, I mean everyday Canadians who have to live with the consequences of Justin’s ideas, not people rich enough to hide from those results.
While I’m sympathetic to a lot that’s conveyed through this article, its contention about what Trump wants is pretty sanguine, to say the least. Trump has been quite explicit: he wants to destroy Canada and absorb it into USAmerica. Something else that rings false in this article is the idea that ‘climate alarmism’ has a lot of sway in this country. Visit Canada and you’ll soon conclude that Canadians couldn’t care less about the environment, even when they’re choking on the fumes of monster trucks unnecessarily hogging space in our cities, even when the forests of Jasper National Park are destroyed by pine beetles, or even as global heating destroys that bedrock of Canadian identity — cold weather and the ability to skate outdoors. Canada’s so-called Left (although they’re not exactly Left, as they have nothing to say about the obscene income disparity in this country) may be practicing a kind of cultural nihilism, but our Right isn’t too far off. It’s just that the Right’s cultural nihilism has a different, pro-USAmerican, consumerist kind of focus.
Trump may be the world’s most famous narcissist, but he is not God. Part of the fear-mongering narrative currently making the rounds among progressives in Canada, is that Trump can actually DO what he says he would like to do. Any attempted annexation of Canada would require congressional approval after lengthy deliberation, and could be blocked in any number of ways. The other thing currently making the globalist progressives anxious; the tariffs, and the tearing up of NAFTA, can be seen as a reversion to the trade relationship we had with the U.S. prior to 1988, the year the first Canada-US free trade agreement came into force. Prior to that we had tariffs on all manner of things on both sides of the border, and yet were able to cooperate on numerous other things, like NORAD for example. I can understand if globalists are tearing their hair out at the prospect of a tariff-war, but I would have thought that leftists would be rejoicing. Surely they should welcome the chance to protect home-grown industries, and therefore, workers’ jobs.
Good luck and be sure to keep your bank accounts offshore, and enough cash to hand.
I don’t mind bernier. But unless he wants four more years he needs to get on the right side.
Vancouver east. I go door to door in Strathcona in Edmonton. It’s not a friendly area either.
Good luck.
We are hoping for a liberal push to split the vote.
It’s recently been pointed out that Canada doesn’t have the IP legal infrastructure other modern countries have to compete in a data/digital/innovation economy. Canada is still focused on 100 year old raw goods and finance (important), but the lack of capitalization on invention and the virtual, combined with massive over regulation, is the home-grown reason GDP per capita is a fraction of the US. Stop giving up your intellectual property and best minds to the US.
Bernier is right about a number of topics, but he’s looking to spin things in his favour as much as any one else in politics. Are the Liberals looking to use the Americn situation to their advantage, including making it a bigger deal than it is? I have no doubt, it’s been a godsend to them. Does Trump just want to reopen NAFTA? Possibly, but that doesn’t change the nature of his rhetoric which makes it pretty impossible to be conciliatory without rolling over like a submissive dog.
The federal liberals put a carbon tax on cad oil exports to the us. Do you think the Americans like the fact that the feds are taxing their commodities while eastern Canada imports Russian hydrocarbons in the form of gasoline from Indian refineries?
You know, because they get them cheaper.
Good for you MM. The PPC is my party of choice, but in Canada we have to be realistic. The PPC doesn’t stand a chance. So I will vote Conservative.
The Liberals have destroyed the Canadian economy. They have ruled very much like the clowns in Europe – open borders, suffocating regulations, cultural wokeness and an obsession with net zero.
None of this will change with Carney. He’s a climate change zealot. He talks a big game about vague infrastructure corridors, but has stated he won’t repeal C-69, which makes any kind of resource development impossible.
Sadly, MM is right about Canadian voters. They are ill informed and timid. They run to politicians who use scare tactics to
gin up fear. Sadly, we will get another Liberal govt and more decline in GDP per capita.
I wish you luck MM, but the Conservatives are the only option if we want a govt committed to pragmatic policy making.
No federal government will embrace governance. The eastern electorate has been bought and paid for.
But that’s a prison we lock ourselves into Jim. The PPC doesn’t stand a chance because everyone says they don’t stand a chance and so we stay enslaved to the Ancien Régime. Vote your conscience. If everybody did, then we might see some real change.
If you had preferential voting you could vote PPC (1) and Conservative (2).
It’s funny how an external enemy will focus people. Europe has Russia. It seems Canada has the US.
The US is not an enemy, but the Trumpists have chosen to not respect the trade agreement which Trump has signed in his first term with Canada and Mexico and has now unilaterally canceled as part of his tariffs war on the world. It’s a very sad situation because the US and Canada have been friends and allies during ww1 and 2, Korea, the war on terror, etc. Even though we had disagreements over some issues , overall the relationship has always been cordial and respectful. Thanks to Mr Trump this is no longer the case, we’ll see what happens, hopefully this is just a bad phase that we all need to get through, and things will get back to normal at some point. Fanaticism must not be allowed to win.
The trump administration is 5 times the friend to Canada than a Biden presidency.
I assume from your name that you are in fact a Canadian. Let me ask you this: scroll on (say) 10 years, when Trump himself is dead, and there is a Democrat President in the White House. Would Canadians ever truly trust the US then? Speaking as an Australian, I won’t ever truly trust the US again, and I don’t expect that Australia as a nation will either. I appreciate that Australia is further from the US than Canada is, but it has been a very close friend to the US over the years. It has even turned up to pretty much all of its many wars, including Vietnam (I don’t recall Canada being there for that one), Gulf 1, Gulf 2 and Afghanistan. That relationship is now dead, and won’t be revived any time soon.
The problem is Trump, he has damaged the relationship with everyone, not Americans in general. There is anger now for sure, but it’s all politics, even most Americans are embarrassed about Trump as president. Most of the people get along fine, there are always radicals of course. Having said that, Canada has to become more independent and diversify it’s economy with other countries. Unknown to many there were about 30k Canadians who volunteered to serve in the US army during the Vietnam War, although the government here did not send troops to Vietnam.
even most Americans are embarrassed about Trump as president.
That claim requires a citation. Playing the man instead of the ball is a poor strategy.
The problem may be Trump, but it is the American people who elected him. That alone means I won’t trust them again in my lifetime. It is one thing him doing stupid things that impact Americans. That is no business of mine. However, he is now doing stupid things that impact the world.
I think it’s safe to say that many countries won’t trust the US in the future. Who wants to sign a treaty with a country whose head of state can and will tear up the treaty and leave others out on a limb? Countries need stability and need to know where they stand in the long term. The US has undermined its standing in the world as a reliable friend, partner and ally to a great many countries.
Nations don’t have friends. Australia turned up for the wars because it was in its national interest to do so. Either that or Australian politicians are as dumb as ours in the UK. One or the other.
I think nations do have friends.
The relationship is not voluntary. How do free ourselves of Pine Gap and US military base in Darwin?
Well, as to Pine Gap, I would say “We are no longer prepared to share intelligence with you, because when the zoo animals in your cabinet discuss intelligence, they do it on signal, and invite random journalists along. Whenever the leases on the shared defence facilities expire, they won’t be renewed”.
It’s beyond foolish to base foreign policy on childish and over-emotional impulses. This, in a nutshell, is why left-wing government is always a disaster.
When I was a kid, I thought America was the greatest nation on earth. After all, man was walking on the moon, and the rockets had “USA” pained on the side. I was very kindly disposed towards America until this year. Now I am not. I genuinely hope Trump’s “tariff” business works out badly for America’s people. They deserve it.
The us are our friends.
Without any doubt.
Speaking as an Australian, the long friendship we have had with the US is over.
I agree. I just hope, post our election, that the government has the sense to make the divorce formal and exit AUKUS. Throwing good money after bad is just senseless
True, although where are we going to get nuclear submarines?
I don’t think we need them, but didn’t France have some?
What a crock.
Using the us to provide your security may be slightly changed.
The US was always happy to have Australia as its “Deputy Sheriff in the South Pacific”. I think we should “turn in our badge”.
[Trudeau] couldn’t even go out in public without being screamed at by angry citizens.
Until this happened, I thought Canadians behaving like this was about as likely as pigs flying.
Even I could see that Trudeau had outstayed his welcome, and I live on the other side of the planet.
Me too – although I was utterly baffled as to why they would elect him in the first place. Hard to find a more vacuous non-entity – even on the left.
Joe Biden? Kamala Harris? Gavin Newsom?
Tall man. Full head of hair. Counts for a lot.
The liberal ndp alliance has trash canned any idea that anyone in Ottawa governs for the whole of Canada. The system is too broken for the vote buyers not to win every election.
A good example is the cbc vote compass. Designed to split the vote and massaged for each riding. They really want that extra 150M carney has promised them.
Yet he’s managed to turn fatal unpopularity into most likely continuation of his policy. How sad.
Mark Carney is a political opportunist. Right of centre folk need to unite to kick him out. Beware of dividing your forces and letting him slide through the cracks. That’s what happened in U.K. where the right fractured and a Socialist government with only 30% of the vote gained total control. The result is not pretty.
Cope better
Trump doesn’t want a trade deal. He wants domination. The nature of his disorder puts rational negotiation beyond any possible reach. Be careful, Canada. Don’t assess Trump in rational terms.
Show us on the doll where the orange man hurt you. Trump is easy to assess in rational terms – he throws out a shocking first step, knowing there is plenty of room for scaling it back. Just look at what the EU has done – a few days ago, Ursula was blustering and carrying on, now she’s talking about a zero for zero tariff policy just like the Euros have done with other trading partners. Why didn’t she put that out front initially?
Good work.
Just thank the non-existent God that you aren’t a Jew like I am. Or that the only reason you were born is because your parents fled Poland in the 1930s and managed to get to Palestine, where they helped found the state of Israel and so be able to live long enough to have children. Imagine: through some logic, we Jews are super-supremacist Nazi colonizers because we were chased out of our birthplaces in Europe, managed to get to the 4,000 year homeland of the Jews despite the English empire, win again despite all odds against many millions of people fighting for the Islamic imperialism that conquered north Africa and almost took over Europe and India, and now are told by 19 year old snots that we deserve to have our throats cut and be raped to death.
Several years ago, the conservative leadership race was between a charismatic Bernier with bold ideas and a milquetoast Scheer. Scheer won the leadership by a fraction of a percent, relying on support from the Quebec dairy cartel. In the next election we had had beige Scheer up against a shiny Trudeau. It was like the old Mac vs PC advertisements. Bernier could have won that election and Canada would be a much better place.
Hear, hear! Applauding your common sense and courage, and wishing you the best. Voices like yours are badly needed in Canada and elsewhere.
Has Ms. Murphy gone sane? If so, welcome to really Meghan.
Great to hear from Meghan again! It’s been a while since her name has made its way into my sphere for some reason.
Good old East Van. I recall very fondly my days in dumpy EV apartments – E36th & Main, E24th & Main, and finally E8th & Guelph. $1 draughts at the Ivanhoe 7 nights a week, and perhaps an excursion across to the Cobalt or around to the Cambie. Early all-ages shows at the Howden Ballroom. Seedy biker booze-cans housed in old transport truck trailers that were stashed among industrial wastelands. Hard to believe nearly thirty years has passed since that time – what a long, strange trip it’s been to the luxury lakeside living I enjoy these days.
As usual, agree with everything here. PPC is the party, and PPC has the platform this country needs, however as much as I like Maxime, I think he needs to step out of the way and lead from the party from behind. He has become a toxic brand to those in his demographic, and he is too old and too franco to resonate with the younger audience he needs to entice to grow his stagnant brand. I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll say it again – the PPC needs a Canadian version of France’s Jordan Bardella. Young, handsome, articulate and not yet a poisoned brand for those that will determine the future of the party as the boomers start to drop away and a new wave of disenfranchised young voters step in to fill that vacuum.
Canada needs the PPC, but the PPC needs a new strategy. We need a Bardella to be the face and the voice, a Bannon to create the vision and set the strategy, and we need Maxime to step back into the shadows to ensure things stay on course.
Is single issue enough? Best wishes Ms. Murphy.
Excellent analysis of the moribund and parochial nature of Canada’s present political reality. Carney’s “coronation” is an affront to democracy, as is reflexive anti-Americanism. Canada needs smart leadership, not the “same old, same old” supported by pretty well all media up North and the heavily bureaucratized class in Ottawa.
Carney, are you having a laugh son ?
Women’s sex-based rights – there should be no such things – there should just be Rights available to all equally which may include the right to single sex spaces and the right to an abortion that happens to be specific to females only in that males do not happen to carry pregnancies… It strikes me that the desire for Women’s sex-based rights is not just a desire for universal basic rights (which I whole heartedly support) but also a desire for specialness; an All animals are equal but some are more equal than others… The author should ditch this term as otherwise her line of reasoning is very persuasive and resonates…
I’m afraid your choice of words reveals more of your thought process than you may have intended. When you say that “males do not happen to carry pregnancies” it suggests that this is the result of some primordial coin-flip that “happened” to go womens’ way. It’s also telling that you prioritize the right to an abortion, rather than, say, the right to maternity leave.
Sex-based rights are an appeal to “specialness”, as well they should be. It is a special capability that women have to bear and nurture children, the prerequisite for our species to continue, and any attempt to deny this, or to diminish its importance is a reliable indicator of how de-natured we’ve become. During maritime emergencies we used to say “Women and children first into the lifeboats”. And we knew why we said this. It’s depressing to think that we’ve been robbed of this most basic tenet of social understanding.
Best of luck.