This ain’t no party, but populism is destroying our federal politics

Something fundamental, and dangerous, has happened to the normally partisan world of politics, with all it warts. Populism has arrived like an 18-wheeler crashing into a bridge abutment, scattering its ugly cargo of racism, xenophobia, and trumped up distrust of government and government institutions all over the road.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. Incumbent governments are not just incompetent boobs who are mucking things up and ought to be shown the door. They are now the 'enemy,' who must not only be replaced, but wiped out, writes Michael Harris. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade, and illustration by Neena Singhal

Opinion

BY MICHAEL HARRIS

March 20, 2023

HALIFAX—Opposition politics has always been the process of casting the appropriate lights and shadows over the other guy’s record—and the facts.

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