March 24, 2025
Canadians finally get to choose a new government and prime minister in the federal election called for April 28, 2025. We have a clear choice: more unprincipled, self-absorbed Liberal rule or a fresh Conservative government that can rebuild a strong, united Canada, manage Trump, and rejuvenate our democratic and federal institutions.
Almost ten years of successive Liberal governments under the leadership of Justin Trudeau, and now Mark Carney, have weakened Canada and left us disunited and vulnerable to attacks on our economy and security by Donald Trump.
No doubt front of mind for Canadian voters in this election is how Canada will manage the irrational, unpredictable U.S. president and his expansionist territorial delusions.
But equally front of mind is which leader and political party is best able to stop the democratic decay of Liberal rule, and rebuild Canada’s collective economic and social resilience across regional and partisan divides, so we never again find ourselves so exposed to threats from an adversarial United States?
The answer is certainly not Mark Carney and the Liberal Party who need a serious time out to take responsibility for their ten-year legacy of democratic decay and a weak, disunited Canada; and a serious time out to thoroughly rethink Liberal Party principles, values, policies, and commitment to democracy.
Years of divisive, short-sighted Liberal governments under Justin Trudeau ‘etherized’ Canadians leaving us “pinned and wriggling on the wall”, facing the depredations of an unhinged US president [with thanks to the haunting words of the great poet T.S. Eliot].
Now the Liberal government, (supported uncritically by certain media establishment in their pocket compromised by accepting substantial Liberal subsidies), has the arrogance to assume that they can install a new dear leader and claim he is the only one who can save Canada from an existential Trump threat; and the arrogance to assume Canadians will suspend thoughtful reflection in a deliberately short election period, forget the damaging Liberal legacy, and elect yet another Liberal faux-democrat to rule us beneficently for another four years.
Canadians have seen this shameless playbook before and should call it out.
Why should Canadians trust Carney’s carefully-curated and sanctimonious podium pronouncements outside Parliament, suggesting sudden about-face reversals of Liberal government policy, as anything other than desperation measures?
Fortunately, Canadians see all too clearly through these cynical anti-democratic plays by the discredited Liberal political class. Equally fortunately, and contrary to Liberal lore, Canadians do not live in a one-party state and there is another option for Canadian voters.
Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party deserve an opportunity and strong mandate to serve as the next federal government. A new Conservative government is better positioned to unite Canadians—to do whatever may be necessary to oppose Trump and restore our collective economic and social resilience—than yet another Liberal leader and government.
As a long-time parliamentarian, Poilievre now has valuable experience and perspective that is more in tune with the moment and more connected with huge numbers of disillusioned and concerned Canadians.
Poilievre is as well-equipped as anyone to deal with Donald Trump and establish new terms of co-existence with the United States, AND, crucially, rebuild Canada’s economic and social resilience which has been decimated by consecutive Liberal governments.
We need a fresh, energetic leader and party that that connects with Canadians in their communities and in Parliament. A leader and party that encourages the active citizen engagement required to rebuild a more productive national economy for all, with stable jobs, affordable housing, and a sustainable social safety net. And a leader and party that protects Canadians from adversaries in the new multipolar international [dis]order.
I may not like Pierre Poilievre’s ‘attitude’, as some I respect call it, and he is not my perfect choice. But Pierre Poilievre and a Conservative government is the best choice in this election.
For the record, my ideal Walter Mitty leader and government would methodically implement all the reforms that I set out in my e-book, Canada’s Faux Democracy. These include crucial democratic reforms to our representative institutions and practices (including electoral reform), to our economy (including comprehensive tax reform), and to our dysfunctional federal structures (including a new Council of Canadian Governments).
Regrettably, after my experience over many years in the trenches of Liberal Party politics hoping to contribute to Canada’s future, I no longer have any confidence that any Liberal Party leader or government will acknowledge, let alone act to reverse, the serious democratic decay under their watch and the dangerous increase in Canadians’ disillusionment with, and alienation from, their federal government.
It is time for a change. Poilievre and the Conservatives have a valuable opportunity to up their game and become the dominant coherent voice of Canadians in a strong, united Canada.
For more, see my latest blog: Canadians have a clear choice in #elxn2025 : Sweeping under the rug or rolling up the rug.
Deborah Coyne