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Trump Upturns Canadian Politics

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Luke Savage on the northern rejection of MAGA.

Jeet Heer

April 20, 2025

Liberal Party supporters hold placards as they wait for Leader Mark Carney’s arrival at the French-language Federal Leaders’ debate at Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 16, 2025.(Chris Young/Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

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Trump Upturns Canadian Politics w/ Luke Savage | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Even as he imposes authoritarianism on the United States, Donald Trump has given a new lease on life to the center left in many other countries. Canada is holding an election at the end of April under the shadow of the American presidents threat to turn it into the 51st state. Until Trump’s inauguration, the Conservative Party of Canada had a commanding lead. But voters are changing their minds fast and it now looks like the Liberal Party under new leader Mark Carney will win the election.

To talk about the quick revolution in Canadian politics I spoke to Luke Savage, a widely published journalist and substracker. We take up not just Canada’s likely rejection of Trumpism but also the question of whether Carney’s technocratic centrism really offers an alternative. If there is to be a new Canadian nationalism, will it have more substance than Carney offers?

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Even as he imposes authoritarianism on the United States, Donald Trump has given a new lease on life to the center left in many other countries. Canada is holding an election at the end of April under the shadow of the American presidents threat to turn it into the 51st state. Until Trump’s inauguration, the Conservative Party of Canada had a commanding lead. But voters are changing their minds fast and it now looks like the Liberal Party under new leader Mark Carney will win the election.

To talk about the quick revolution in Canadian politics I spoke to Luke Savage, a widely published journalist and substracker. We take up not just Canada’s likely rejection of Trumpism but also the question of whether Carney’s technocratic centrism really offers an alternative. If there is to be a new Canadian nationalism, will it have more substance than Carney offers? 

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The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Why Big Oil Wants to Splinter Canada w/ Nora Loreto / The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

The issue of Canada’s national unity is heading towards the ballot box as Alberta is having a referendum on the issue of separatism. I spoke with Canadian journalist Nora Loreto about the background to this dispute, the backing the referendum is receiving from right-wing US political actors such as Steve Bannon and lobbyists connected to the oil industry. The discussion also takes up the role of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is using the crisis to push a neoliberal agenda. For more commentary by Nora, you can go to the podcast Sandy and Nora Talk Politics, which is found here.

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Jeet HeerTwitterJeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.


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