Could Canada elect someone like Donald Trump?

[Thank you for being a friend...]

I'm amazed at how many of the members of the parliament up there are non-white, non-Christian.  The Conservative caucus in Canada is very diverse ethnically and with many religions represented.

How would a candidate that wanted to restrict immigration in Canada and preserve white heritage do?  Would they have to be more subtle in getting their message across to the native-born Canadians?

The PM, Justin Trudeau, seems like the antithesis of Donald Trump, but I imagine that Canada is not as liberal as it seems - that there is probably lots of feelings up there that the country is becoming "invaded"?

also: Does the white working class in Canada form the base of the Conservative Party?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

People are going to say Ford Nation, but the crucial thing about Ford is that he had a very multiethnic voter base. Perhaps there will be a rise in anti-muslim sentiment in the future, but I doubt it will take the form of a general "whitelash".

also: Does the white working class in Canada form the base of the Conservative Party?

No. It's fairly middle class, although Canada's very fluid electorates makes it very murky to say "who the base is".

[DC Al Fine]

I'm amazed at how many of the members of the parliament up there are non-white, non-Christian.  The Conservative caucus in Canada is very diverse ethnically and with many religions represented.

How would a candidate that wanted to restrict immigration in Canada and preserve white heritage do?  Would they have to be more subtle in getting their message across to the native-born Canadians?

There are different styles of right wing populism. There's plenty of room for a populist backlash but not a specifically Trumpist one. Canada is very multi-ethnic, which affects our style of populism. Kelly Leitch ran for Tory leader on a Trumpist platform and bombed. Meanwhile the Ford brothers have run backlash campaigns on more lunch bucket issues like green energy increasing electricity rates, and eliminating garbage removal and transit union's right to strike.

also: Does the white working class in Canada form the base of the Conservative Party?

There's an element of that but it's much smaller. The biggest difference from the USA is ethnic. Jews and East Asians support the Tories way more than they do the GOP.

[Hatman 🍁]

Immigrants in Canada are very anti illegal immigration, so if Ford (God help us) moved to federal politics and started talking about it, I don't think it would hurt his base.

[Blue3]

Never say never

[mileslunn]

In the near future no, but 20 to 30 years down the road who knows. I think there is a better chance of a left wing populist like Jeremy Corbyn winning in Canada than a Trump like one. But a right wing populist similar to Ford is definitely possible.

[Mr. Morden]

The US presidential system is a weird outlier among Western democracies.  No one "leads" the political parties in the US in the sense that they're led in a parliamentary system.  Thus it's a lot easier for an outsider like Trump, who is disliked by party elites and promoting a message that the party elites don't really want to promote, to "hijack" the party via the US primary system than it would be for a similar figure to take over one of the major parties in Canada or virtually any other Western country.

[The Mikado]

The US presidential system is a weird outlier among Western democracies.  No one "leads" the political parties in the US in the sense that they're led in a parliamentary system.  Thus it's a lot easier for an outsider like Trump, who is disliked by party elites and promoting a message that the party elites don't really want to promote, to "hijack" the party via the US primary system than it would be for a similar figure to take over one of the major parties in Canada or virtually any other Western country.

This, with the exception of France, where such a thing would be more plausible. Or pretty much any Latin American country, if you count them as Western (which you should).

[Dr. MB]

Never say never, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. For one, the Canadian parties have a rigid structure with an establishment party leader at the top - don’t like them? Form a new party (this seems to have happened more at the provincial level). And, Canada as a whole is more left-leaning - a populist could rise to the NDP leadership and win, but no doubt they would be left-wing.

The closest chance we had was Kevin O’Leary, but he has plenty of differences with Trump.

[dead0man]

Could someone like Trump even be created in Canada?  That takes a special place like NYC to cook up someone like Trump.  I'm sure there are rich assholes in Toronto, but I doubt they raise the type of children that turn into stereotypical NYC rich assholes.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

No.

In Canada, the leaders of the various parties act as political gatekeepers, exercising total control over who can and cannot stand for election as the nominee of a federal party. If a party leader disapproves of a candidate's rhetoric or views, he or she can simply to refuse to sign the candidate's nomination papers and thus deny them an electoral platform. This is what would happen if a populist Trump-like figure tried to run for office in Canada.

[Mr. Morden]

The US presidential system is a weird outlier among Western democracies.  No one "leads" the political parties in the US in the sense that they're led in a parliamentary system.  Thus it's a lot easier for an outsider like Trump, who is disliked by party elites and promoting a message that the party elites don't really want to promote, to "hijack" the party via the US primary system than it would be for a similar figure to take over one of the major parties in Canada or virtually any other Western country.

This, with the exception of France, where such a thing would be more plausible. Or pretty much any Latin American country, if you count them as Western (which you should).

Even in other countries with presidential systems, do they all tend to be as "open" as the US is in terms of selecting party nominees in the first place?  In the US, the nomination for virtually every office (not just president) is decided by a primary, and basically anyone can run in said primaries (that can be expensive though, to get enough signatures to get on the ballot across the country for an office like president, but assuming said "outsider" has $, the parties can't really stop him in the US system).

[Former President tack50]

No.

In Canada, the leaders of the various parties act as political gatekeepers, exercising total control over who can and cannot stand for election as the nominee of a federal party. If a party leader disapproves of a candidate's rhetoric or views, he or she can simply to refuse to sign the candidate's nomination papers and thus deny them an electoral platform. This is what would happen if a populist Trump-like figure tried to run for office in Canada.

Well, couldn't it be some random Conservative MP who gradually develops Trump-ish views and runs in a leadership election? So for the party leaders he is annoying but not enough for him to be deselected?

The party elites being overwritten by the base is not exactly rare I guess.

[Del Tachi]

Could someone like Trump even be created in Canada?  That takes a special place like NYC to cook up someone like Trump.  I'm sure there are rich assholes in Toronto, but I doubt they raise the type of children that turn into stereotypical NYC rich assholes.

Donald Trump got famous on television.  Don't most Canadians watch American-produced television?

[dead0man]

Could someone like Trump even be created in Canada?  That takes a special place like NYC to cook up someone like Trump.  I'm sure there are rich assholes in Toronto, but I doubt they raise the type of children that turn into stereotypical NYC rich assholes.

Donald Trump got famous on television.  Don't most Canadians watch American-produced television?

more than Americans watch Canadian television for sure.  I don't know what you're point is.

[Del Tachi]

Could someone like Trump even be created in Canada?  That takes a special place like NYC to cook up someone like Trump.  I'm sure there are rich assholes in Toronto, but I doubt they raise the type of children that turn into stereotypical NYC rich assholes.

Donald Trump got famous on television.  Don't most Canadians watch American-produced television?

more than Americans watch Canadian television for sure.  I don't know what you're point is.

A true Trump analogue would be a reality television persona.  Since most television watched by Canadians is American-produced, it seems unlikely that television would produce a "Canadian" Donald Trump.

I actually meant it as a complement to your point.  Someone like Trump couldn't be created in Canada because Trump is a product of a uniquely American brand of popular culture, its much deeper than him just being a NYC snob (even if that he is how he got his start).

[dead0man]

A true Trump analogue would be a reality television persona.  Since most television watched by Canadians is American-produced, it seems unlikely that television would produce a "Canadian" Donald Trump.

I actually meant it as a complement to your point.  Someone like Trump couldn't be created in Canada because Trump is a product of a uniquely American brand of popular culture, its much deeper than him just being a NYC snob (even if that he is how he got his start).

aye.  I don't disagree with that.

[MaxQue]

No.

In Canada, the leaders of the various parties act as political gatekeepers, exercising total control over who can and cannot stand for election as the nominee of a federal party. If a party leader disapproves of a candidate's rhetoric or views, he or she can simply to refuse to sign the candidate's nomination papers and thus deny them an electoral platform. This is what would happen if a populist Trump-like figure tried to run for office in Canada.

Well, couldn't it be some random Conservative MP who gradually develops Trump-ish views and runs in a leadership election? So for the party leaders he is annoying but not enough for him to be deselected?

The party elites being overwritten by the base is not exactly rare I guess.

Kellie Leitch did that. She got 7% in the leadership election last time. She wasn't selected for Shadow Cabinet and decided to leave politics and there will be a by-election. Her hand-picked successor lost the internal vote to be the Conservative candidate (instead the establishment Essa mayor won).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I suppose it depends what you mean by 'like Trump' doesn't it? But check out the new Premier of Ontario...