TRUMPIFICATION: It would be a reverse hat trick for the Conservative Party of Canada to score a third consecutive loss after the 2017 and 2020 defeats. For Conservative leadership leading hopeful Pierre Poilievre, the race involves going as far-Right as his brand of freedom takes him with the promise to make Canada “the freest country on earth.” And the man endorsing Poilievre’s ultra-right agenda is none other than the former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

By  Promod Puri

It would be a reverse hat trick for the Conservative Party of Canada to score a third consecutive loss after the 2017 and 2020 defeats.

For Conservative leadership leading hopeful Pierre Poilievre, the race involves going as far-Right as his brand of freedom takes him with the promise to make Canada “the freest country on earth.”

And the man endorsing Poilievre’s ultra-right agenda is none other than the former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

He is also impressed with the claim of 300,000 new members signed by Poilievre’s campaign.

His ability to galvanize new members’ support is critical to success. According to Harper, “that’s how we win the next federal election, and in my opinion, Pierre has made by far the strongest case.”

Canada needs to be free in everything from vaccine mandates to carbon taxes, which is the banner Poilievre carries in his leadership race.

Will the party voters elect Poilievre as their leader with the far-Right agenda?

If it does, the Conservatives would again fail to imbibe the liberal culture from Canada’s multicultural face, especially in the vote-rich urban constituencies.

In the recent deal with the NDP to address the crucial social needs of Canada, the Liberal Party has moved towards the Left. It is an opportunity for the Conservative Party to occupy that space and present a progressive image of being central rather than traversing more and more towards the far-Right.

But “Trumpification” of the Tories has happened from coast to coast, according to veteran Conservative Peter Kent.

In that transformation are many diehard Tories among the ethnic and visible-minority communities, even within the South Asian Canadians, who walk along with the committed far-right anti-vaxxers. They form a big chunk of the 300,000 new memberships under Poilievre’s wings.

Lately, t seems there is quite a Vaccum of progressive spirit in the Conservative Party of Canada.

The party will announce its new leader on Sept. 10.

Promod Puri is a veteran journalist and author based in Vancouver.