The Populist Impact: The People’s Party and the Green Party

Abstract

The Brexit Referendum and the 2016 election in the United States upended traditional political marketing and branding techniques, not to mention an extended era of politically correct executive leader discourse. But Canada has seen this as well, with the election of Rob Ford in Toronto, the 2015 niqab debate, and more politicians speaking out unfiltered through their own social media channels. This chapter considers the 2019 election as a test of whether populist and nationalist themes, kept relatively isolated in recent Canadian elections, are used as election tactics. It considers the failures of both the People’s Party and Maxime Bernier, and the Green Party and Elizabeth May, in capturing either right wing or left wing populism around issues such immigration and the environment, during an era that seems ripe for these kinds of appeals. The chapter raises the question of whether in Canadian political culture, given the resilience of non-partisan voters and the lack of party identification, these types of appeals are effective.