Conservatives embrace populism, rage at Trudeau, talk separation at annual gathering | Unpublished
Hello!

Unpublished Opinions

National Observer's picture
National Observer
Vancouver, British Columbia
About the author

National Observer is a new publication founded by Linda Solomon Wood and an award-winning team of journalists in response to the close relationship between the oil industry and media in Canada, and the urgency of climate change. National Observer focuses on news and in-depth reports on under-covered Canadian stories in the area of climate, energy, and related culture, business and politics. It was launched in May 2015 by Observer Media Group (OMG), which also owns Vancouver Observer.

Seed funding for National Observer came from a Kickstarter campaign, 'Reports from the Energy Battlegrounds' in February 2015. Since its inception in May 2015, National Observer has provided intensive, critical coverage of the oil industry, politics, corporate corruption, and much more.

We also highlight inspired business innovations and lifestyle hacks that build sustainability and resilience and help in the transition away from fossil fuels.

We provide our talented reporters days, weeks, sometimes even months, to do the investigative reporting that is vital to democracy.

For more information please visit our website at: http://www.nationalobserver.com

Like it

Have your say!

Conservatives embrace populism, rage at Trudeau, talk separation at annual gathering

March 25, 2019

Two or three decades ago, Preston Manning's Reform Party was seen as embodying a right-wing populist movement in Western Canada that advocated for shrinking government by cutting social welfare and culture programming.

Lately, however, right-wing populism has been associated with the nationalist, anti-immigrant and authoritarian tendencies of leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Conservative leaders Jason Kenney of the Alberta United Conservative Party and Andrew Scheer of the federal Conservative Party have also been accused lately of being too tolerant of white nationalism.

None of that, however, stopped the conservative leader of Canada's most populous province from grasping the mantle of populism during an appearance on stage Saturday at the Manning Networking Conference, an annual right-of-centre gathering in Ottawa.

“People called Preston a populist when he was in politics, and they’re calling me a populist now,” Ontario's Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford told the crowd of politicians, activists and fundraisers.

Comments

Be the first to comment