Canada: Conservatives Suffer Major Defeat in Canada

Justin Trudeau

After a campaign somewhat similar to what we are hearing from Republicans who pander to a shrinking base and push an agenda focused on please the party base, Canada's Conservative Party went down to a crushing defeat, the full scope of which is yet to be fully tallied.  A telling quote from the New York Times notes:

The election became something of a referendum on Mr. Harper’s approach to government, which, in the view of his critics, has often focused on issues important to core Conservative supporters, mostly in the West, rather than to much of the population.

Sounds familiar doesn't it?  Like our Democrats, Justin Trudeau, the leader of the victorious Liberal Party, believes that government and politics can be a positive force in the lives of a nation's people.  One has to wonder if the GOP will take pause and even take note of the election results in Canada.  Here are more highlights from the Times coverage:

The nine-year reign of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party came to a sudden and stunning end on Monday night at the hands of Justin Trudeau, the young leader of the Liberal Party.

Starting with a sweep of the Atlantic provinces, the Liberals capitalized on what many Canadians saw as Mr. Harper’s heavy-handed style, and the party went on to capture 184 of the 338 seats in the next House of Commons.

Justin Trudeau, who will be 44 on Christmas Day, will become Canada’s second-youngest prime minister and the first to follow a parent into office. 

While the Liberal Party had emerged on top in several polls over the past week, its lead was short of conclusive and Mr. Trudeau was an untested figure. There was no ambiguity, however, in Monday’s results. . . . The Conservatives were reduced to 99 seats from 159 in the last Parliament, according to preliminary results.

“More than a hundred years ago a great prime minister, Wilfrid Laurier, talked about sunny ways, he knew that politics can be a positive force and that is the message Canadians sent today,” Mr. Trudeau told supporters in Montreal. “Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways, this is what positive politics can do.”

The election became something of a referendum on Mr. Harper’s approach to government, which, in the view of his critics, has often focused on issues important to core Conservative supporters, mostly in the West, rather than to much of the population.

The focus of the campaign fluttered among issues, including a scandal over Conservative senators’ expenses; antiterrorism measures Mr. Harper introduced; pensions; the stagnation of the economy brought about by plunging oil prices; the government’s handling of refugees; the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact; and Mr. Harper’s attempts to ban the wearing of face veils known as niqabs during citizenship ceremonies.

After spending most of the campaign delivering standard speeches to invitation-only crowds, Mr. Harper took a more theatrical approach in the final days. At campaign stops, as he recited his party’s claims of what a Liberal government would cost individual families, a recording of an old-fashioned cash register bell repeatedly pealed through loudspeakers and audience members piled what appeared to be currency on tables.

As I said, some of the parallels are striking.  And yes, Mr. Trudeau is easy on the eyes.