How Justin Trudeau Alienated Canada’s Working Class
Canada, like the US and other countries, is grappling with acute political dealignment. Plummeting working-class support for center-left parties highlights the failure of liberal policies and the appeal of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s populism.
Justin Trudeau on the third day of the G7 Summit on June 28, 2022, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
With Justin Trudeau’s cabinet in revolt, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre will likely be Canada’s next prime minister. Liberals and leftists lampoon him for his dorky anti-charisma, fearmongering about crime, and plans to overthrow the constitution. And yet his polling numbers are so high — nearly double Trudeau’s Liberals — that even a large sampling error will not stop him. Among his supporters are large swaths of the working class. Why are they flocking to him?
Squeezed between a center left that ignores the cost of living and a pro-business Conservative Party that presents itself as the champion of the ordinary people, many working-class voters are choosing the latter. After nearly a decade of Trudeau’s leadership — propped up by the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2022 until their recent withdrawal of support — voters feel they gave the Liberals ample opportunity to improve their lives. Instead, they got higher rent and stagnant wages. Frustrated, they are now willing to overlook Poilievre’s regressive policies in hopes of change.
The Liberal Honeymoon
The Liberal renaissance began in 2015. After a decade under Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, voters sought a center-left alternative, fueled by climate change protests and indigenous rights movements like Idle No More. Liberal leader Trudeau appealed to urban, socially liberal demographics with promises of decolonization, proportional representation, and drug reform. While most of these promises were broken, those that were fulfilled — such as marijuana legalization and support for refugees — boosted his popularity. His charming smile and a housing market in which the average Canadian home cost less than half a million dollars also played a role.
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