{"id":379336,"date":"2025-12-31T12:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379336\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T12:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:14:12","slug":"serious-governance-will-be-the-theme-of-canadian-politics-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379336\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Serious governance\u2019 will be the theme of Canadian politics in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The governing Liberals, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, face a confluence of crises in 2026, writes Robyn Urback.James Park\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Heading into 2026, Canada is grappling with talk of separatism referendums in two provinces, Alberta and Quebec. It is slated to participate in a formal review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at a time when the U.S. has pledged<\/a> to \u201creassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.\u201d Public trust in our institutions have plummeted, down nearly 10 percentage points between 2013<\/a> and 2024<\/a> for our justice system, 13 percentage points for trust in police, and more than 15 percentage points for schools. <\/p>\n

According to a recent poll<\/a> by Abacus Data, 67 per cent of Canadians say the cost of living in their area is the worst they can ever remember it being. Productivity remains stagnant, despite big plans<\/a> for investment and infrastructure development. And our hospitals are in such dire straits that a 44-year-old man with chest pains can be allegedly made to wait eight hours<\/a> in an Edmonton emergency room, before ultimately succumbing to his condition. <\/p>\n

Campbell Clark: Forget polarization. This year, we found a new Canadian consensus<\/a><\/p>\n

Much has been made of the so-called \u201cvibe shift\u201d that swept many Western nations after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> in 2024: a shift away from \u201cwokeness\u201d and from performative activism that Mr. Trump\u2019s successful re-election seemed to give license. But in Canada, this shift runs deeper than the culture wars. <\/p>\n

The last majority government was elected on an explicit promise of fiscal irresponsibility<\/a>: to spend beyond its means during a period of relative economic stability because it sounded good compared to those doddering old Conservatives. Much of the country was charmed by the handsome prime minister who quipped \u201cbecause it\u2019s 2015\u201d in response to a question about why he was pursuing gender parity in cabinet. The new defence minister was dubbed a \u201cbadass\u201d for the way he looked in pictures. Our Foreign Affairs department boasted about a \u201cfeminist foreign policy\u201d without a hint of irony or self-awareness. The government banned plastic straws. It called itself complicit in a continuing genocide. It bragged about plans to bring in hundreds of thousands of newcomers annually it could never possibly integrate. <\/p>\n

It was, in a word, a time of profound unseriousness, when the message was the policy, and the effect was the afterthought. That badass defence minister turned out to be one of the worst<\/a>, most incompetent members of cabinet. That influx of newcomers to Canada destroyed the Canadian consensus<\/a> on immigration, amid many other tangible effects. Housing became even less affordable, health care waits have gotten even worse, our per-capita GDP flatlined, and institutions collapsed<\/a> on themselves. By the end of 2024, the prime minister\u2019s slogans no longer seemed cute. Compared to Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre<\/a> was the serious one, ready to take on the enormous challenge of fixing Canada. But then along came Mark Carney<\/a>, who contrasted Mr. Poilievre\u2019s jejune slogans with a formidable resum\u00e9 and an air of tested confidence.<\/p>\n

The mood heading into 2026 is even more serious than it was then. The threat of separatism, of further erosion to our relationship with the U.S., of the collapse of public trust in our institutions, of foreign and domestic security threats and of continuing economic strife will do that. Canadians were evenly split, by the end of the year, as to which party they believed could best handle these issues. But by a wide margin, many more Canadians<\/a> believed that Mr. Carney was the man to lead the way. <\/p>\n

Poilievre sees better days ahead for Conservatives after a \u2018challenging year\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

That might have come as a surprise to Conservatives who believed that as economic concerns began to rise above those about Mr. Trump in the latter half of 2025, so too would support for Mr. Poilievre. But economic concerns are also serious concerns, and the gravitas that Mr. Poilievre appeared to have (compared to the guy who is now showing up in Instagram selfies with a pop star, at least) is no match for the two-time central banker who has demonstrated he has little time for antics.<\/p>\n

An NDP that wants to again be a viable political party will elect a leader who can meet the moment \u2013 who will embrace this vibe shift toward seriousness while reclaiming the space on the left vacated by the Liberals\u2019 push to the middle. A Conservative Party that wants a shot at governing (if an opportunity is afforded to it with the Liberals now just one seat short of a majority) must reflect on whether its current leader, who was perfect for the previous moment, is right for the current one. And the governing Liberals have the toughest job of actually tackling the confluence of crises plaguing Canada in 2026. <\/p>\n

\u201cSunny ways\u201d was a nice thought a decade ago. But now it\u2019s way past time to get serious. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The governing Liberals, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, face a confluence of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,20754,5152,44,927,1008],"class_list":["post-379336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-column","tag-dei","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-pleasemod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}