Is Canada following the example of the United States and becoming more extreme on the right and the left? Depending on who you talk too, both sides would say yes. The election of Barak Obama back in 2008 led to the birth of the tea party movement. The result of that is a number of Freedom Caucus members in the US congress. The election of Justin Trudeau back in 2015, combined with the pandemic, over the last couple of years has played a role in the formation of the People’s Party of Canada led by Maxine Bernier.

In the US, those on the right will point out to the popularity of Bernie Sanders and the election to congress of left wing “radicals” including the gang of 4 led by AOC. While in Canada, conservatives are having fits over the “unholy alliance” of the Liberals and NDP.

We all saw the election of Donald Trump. We all know about the large raucus crowds he drew in both his election runs and how right wing extremists have a love for him. In Canada right now the conservative party is having a bitter leadership campaign with two of the main rivals being the moderate Jean Charest and the more right leaning Pierre Poilievre.. Poilievre is running a Trump like campaign and drawing, by Canadian standards, Trump like crowds. While Canada, as a whole, has a high vaccination rate, Poilievre, who is a truck convoy supporter, is still extremely popular on the right and, as mentioned, is drawing big crowds.

The conservative leadership convention will be held in September. If Poilievre is nominated it will represent a conservative shift further right. Just like we are seeing in the US house and senate, this has the potential to make compromise more unattainable. Those on the right will say “it is you leftists who are making compromise impossible”.

Kind of depressing.