How Canada is showing why UK must stand up to bully-boy Trump

The bad old days of powerful states oppressing weaker ones could return, but only if we let them

Last week I wrote that the only way to beat bullies is to stand up to them. This week the universe saw fit to prove the point, as the Liberals stormed to victory in the Canadian elections on a strong platform against Donald Trump’s threats to their sovereignty.

I am delighted for the Liberal Democrats’ sister party on a personal level, but in truth all of us should be able to welcome this turnaround victory – and what it says about the resilience of our liberal democracy when we are willing to fight for it.

There are deep and longstanding links between Scotland and Canada – family ties, historic friendship and a shared legacy of institutions and values. What happens to our Canadian cousins matters to us – and should be a model for how we respond to populism and aggressive authoritarianism.

It would be a mistake to chalk up the Liberal revival in Canada to Trump’s malign influence alone, but it would be hard to ignore his role either. At the start of the year, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives were polling 20 points ahead – now Poilievre himself has lost his seat.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney won the recent election after promising to stand up to Donald Trump (Picture: Rich Lam) | Getty Images

Amoral politics

It is not hard to see why. The Canadian Conservatives (much like our own Tories, to say nothing of the toadying Nigel Farage) were all-too happy to tie themselves to Trump. That Trump has no political principles save his own self-interest of course did not factor into the equation – they saw his amoral politics as the ticket to success.

The Canadian Conservatives’ seemingly inevitable victory, however, was derailed by Trump’s threats to annex Canada as the “51st state”. The Conservatives saw Trump as a role model for Canada, but he saw them as his next victim. The trouble with bullies, funnily enough, is that they have to have someone to bully. Trump’s schtick really only works for Trump.

By contrast, Mark Carney’s Liberals have shown exactly how we can respond to the likes of Trump, Poilievre and Farage – with cool heads over populist rhetoric, with ideals instead of identity, and with confident patriotism rather than nationalism.

Might isn’t right

That is the lesson that we should reflect upon as we look at our own politics today. Farage clearly sees Trump as a model and the Tories clearly see Farage as one for them (for all the good that is doing them). Labour and indeed the SNP are too afraid of Trump to squeak a word. That leaves Liberals to make the case for the opposition.

After all, standing up to bullies like Trump matters on a practical level – it brings better results – but it also matters as a matter of principle.

“Might is right” – the mantra of the bully – is an ideology most of us thought we had left behind in the last century. Wars of conquest and open coercion of smaller states were supposed to be a thing of the past – but those darker times can return if we allow them to.

This week has shown that we can take a better path. No one would ever accuse Canadians of being a belligerent people – but if they can stand up for their freedoms and against Trumpian bullies, so can we.

Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland