Trump’s Mysterious Support of Canada’s Liberals – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

There is an old adage that in politics as in life timing is everything. That is why pundits often talk about such things as the importance of “momentum” and the necessity of not “peaking too early.” In March 2012 when President Obama was running for his second term he got caught on a hot mic in Seoul, South Korea asking then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to reassure Vladimir Putin, “After my election I have more flexibility.… On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.… This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”

As historian Victor Davis Hanson has observed, “Both Obama and Putin apparently got their quid pro quo wishes. Obama was re-elected in 2012. The United States was abandoning missile defense in Eastern Europe. Putin gave space and so did not invade eastern Ukraine and the Crimea — until 2014.”

By now it is a well-established fact that President Trump with his tariffs, with his talk of making Canada America’s fifty-first state and finally with his endorsement of Liberal leader Mark Carney, significantly and probably decisively, interfered in Canada’s April 28 federal election in favor of the Liberals. But why?

Canada’s elections are free and fair; they are known for their integrity. Only citizens are allowed to vote, they must show ID at the polling station and results are announced the next day. In a few rare cases where the results in a particular district are very close the apparent loser is entitled to demand a recount but these are done with dispatch and never affect the final overall election result. Assessments by Canada’s intelligence community have revealed that China has interfered in Canada’s last three elections in favor of the Liberal party and, for obvious reasons, this has become a contentious issue in Canadian politics.

Under the circumstances — nay, under any circumstances — one might be forgiven for asking why President Trump would want to create similar contention? To what end? Why after election day did Trump even go so far as to take credit for Carney’s win and the Conservative party’s defeat under its leader Pierre Poilievre? Was it just because the Conservative leader had told him to butt out of Canada’s election? Why be so antagonistic to a fellow conservative who shares similar values and aspirations in favor of a self-described, Woke globalist-elitist who does not?

These are important questions because in the final analysis not only did Trump’s meddling not do Canada any good, in the long run it cannot possibly do America any good and possibly quite the opposite.

In Canada’s election timing was completely on the side of the Liberals and completely against the Conservatives and this was no accident. It is precisely because Canada’s elections are fair that their timing can be all important. Under Canada’s Constitution elections must be called after a maximum of five years that a ruling party has been in power. On the other hand, given Canada’s parliamentary system a “snap election” can be called at any time that the ruling party sees that they have an advantage.

With respect to timing, leading up to the federal election the Liberals must be given credit for having played their cards masterfully. Going into the election Mark Carney, the newly crowned leader of the Liberal party, was little known in Canada. Though he had served a stint as Governor of the Bank of Canada — a rather low-profile position as a government mandarin in this country — he had never before run in any election and moreover had lived outside of the country for most of his adult life, mainly working in the private sector.

After he was elected party leader, he immediately called a snap election and in doing so specified the shortest legal time, 36 days — the maximum is 50 — for the campaign to take place. Thus the people of Canada would not have much time to get to know him.

Though the Liberal party had a commanding lead at the beginning of the campaign and were set to win a majority government, during the course of the campaign as the public did get to know Carney — a wooden politician with a record of lying and cheating — the needle began swinging back in favor of the Conservatives. Therefore, had the campaign season been longer, chances are that the Conservatives would have won a minority or perhaps even a majority government. As it was, they did much better than many observers have implied. On election day they had their best turnout ever with approximately 7.9 million Canadians voting for them representing 41.6 percent of the vote.

They gained 24 new seats while the Liberals gained only 11 and tellingly all from the socialist NDP which lost 19 as well as its status as an official opposition party. Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the NDP, lost his seat and was forced to step down as leader of his party. He had propped up the Liberals when they were way down in the polls under Trudeau and thus won the enmity not only of the Conservatives who were trying to topple the government with a no-confidence vote, but also of his own party. Had he not done that he might now have been not a loser but head of the official opposition.

It is also notable that the small but significant right-leaning Peoples Party of Canada (PPC) acted as a spoiler in some districts where they took votes from the Conservatives and thus played a hand in handing victory to the Liberals. Given that the legacy media were 100 percent behind the Liberals and that despite this during the last weeks of the campaign momentum was with the Conservatives, the Liberal win of a minority government is not that impressive. In Canada minority governments typically last about two years and without the NDP to prop them up that is the most likely fate for Carney’s government.

Canada’s political culture is different from America’s largely because Canada became a democracy through evolution rather than revolution. Nevertheless, Canada’s Conservatives share many of the same values as America’ Republicans such as smaller government, lower taxes, a strong military, and family values. One might therefore be forgiven for asking in supporting Mark Carney and his Liberals what does President Trump want and why does he want it?

Canada’s population is about the same size as California’s and during this century and most of the last the Liberal party has dominated Canada much as the Democrat party has dominated America. If Canada were annexed to the U.S. as the 51st state Canada’s Liberals would probably vote Democrat. Does President Trump really want another California to be part of the Union? Does he want the Democrats, through the annexation of Canada, to have permanent control of Congress just as they control the state legislature in California? If not, then why go on about annexing a fellow democracy?

If, as is likely, the Conservatives win the next election then Canada will become a better ally and friend than it will be under any Liberal government.  With respect, President Trump should be careful what he wishes for.

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