Take Nothing For Granted

By Spencer Fernando, Exclusive to the National Citizens Coalition

Over the past year or so, those of us who want to see Justin Trudeau booted out of office have been politically ascendent.

While criticism of the Prime Minister was once controversial and largely confined to independent media outlets, opposing Justin Trudeau is now the majority view of Canadians.

Trudeau has a legion of vehement detractors, few strong supporters left, and even part of the Liberal Caucus is rebelling against him.

Those who warned his policies would fail have been vindicated time and time again.

Trudeau was wrong on immigration.

Trudeau was wrong on crime.

Trudeau was wrong on the carbon tax.

Trudeau was wrong on government spending.

Trudeau was wrong on the deficit.

On and on it goes.

The polls reflect this, with survey after survey showing the Liberals are headed for a substantial defeat.

And if that’s not enough, Liberal MPs are heading for the exits and the Conservatives are dominating the fundraising race.

So, it would be easy to take it for granted that the Liberals are going to lose.

But now is not the time for complacency.

In a democratic country like Canada, the voters always have the power of surprise.

For example, there is every indication that Blaine Higgs and the New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives felt they were on track for a win when they called an early election.

Instead, the PCs lost nine seats, dropped 4.7% in the popular vote, and Higgs lost his own seat. Meanwhile, the Liberals surged 14 points to 48.6% and gained 15 seats to win a majority.

Now, this should not be taken as evidence of some sort of Liberal resurrection federally. New Brunswick had its own specific context and issues, and Premier-designate Susan Holt ran an effective campaign that included distancing herself from Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax.

However, it’s clear that Blaine Higgs and the New Brunswick PCs were banking on federal Conservative momentum to drive them to a win, and that clearly didn’t work.

There are two key takeaways here.

First, it appears a portion of the Liberal collapse in the polls is related to widespread public dislike of Justin Trudeau on a personal level.

Thus, if the Liberals switched out their leader for someone more palatable to Canadians, they could get at least a short-term bump in the polls.

Second, voters expect everybody to work for their votes – as they should. Nobody can assume a win is in the bag, nor can we assume the main issues a year from now will be the same as they are today. A lot can change in a year.

What does this mean for those who want to see Trudeau and the Liberals defeated?

It means we cannot let our guard down.

We cannot be complacent.

And we cannot take public support for granted.

The voters can sense arrogance and entitlement.

And people often admire the ‘scrappy underdog’ fighting to catch up.

None of this is to say we should be ‘dooming’.

In fact, we should feel more excited and inspired than ever.

Canada is on the cusp of significant change. Many voters are ready to go in another direction and start restoring Canada’s prosperity.

But to get there, we need to keep fighting.

We need to be vigilant.

We need to keep listening to Canadians.

And we need to keep making the case for a vision of a Canada that achieves more freedom and more prosperity through less government.

As we do so we must not take anything for granted, and we must remember that every bit of support must be earned.

Spencer Fernando is one of the most popular and prolific political voices in Canada. He is a writer and campaign fellow for the National Citizens Coalition. Join the mailing list to receive his exclusive weekly columns in your inbox.

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