Trudeau's Liberal Party Headed for a Major Wipeout

 How's that for a title?

The Trudeau family ('dynasty' seems too strong a word at this point) have been a fixture in the political scene of Quebec since, well, not quite time immemorial, but pretty close. In 1995, the Quebec Independence Referendum seemed like an unstoppable force that would pass with ease until former Prime Minister and Quebecer-in-chief Pierre Trudeau came out forcefully against it. In the end, the referendum failed by the narrowest of margins.

First as tragedy, then as farce, I suppose.

Justin Trudeau, while initially appearing to possess the same political charisma and longevity as his late sainted father, has turned out to be much more in the mold of a Louis-Napoleon than a bona fide Bonaparte. Now that the luster (or, if you prefer, "lustre") has worn off and the younger Trudeau has faced (and failed to adequately manage) several national and international crises, the impending federal election in Canada has taken on a distinctly Conservative colo(u)r. 

This summer, the Parliamentary district of Toronto-St Paul, held by a Liberal party member for over thirty years, was won by the Conservative Party candidate. Then, just yesterday, the formerly deep-red Quebec riding of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun was lost in a shocking upset to the separatist Bloc Québécois. Taken together alongside the consistently negative outlook provided by most opinion polls over the past months, these results spell a forthcoming disaster for Trudeau's party. 

What does the future hold for the Liberal Party of Canada? I don't possess a crystal ball, but I do possess two eyeballs, and what they tell me is that the people of Canada are deeply unhappy with the direction of Trudeau's leadership. He's an Obama-lite in a post-Obama era. The North American political landscape of today has no place for his milquetoast centrism that values the status quo over any meaningful progress for, among others, the working class. This is why his government will - must - be defeated at the ballot box. When that ushers in a deeply regressive, aggrieved Conservative government, perhaps the people of Canada will realize that they have outgrown this two-party hegemony and agitate for meaningful change. Until then, however, Trudeau (or someone like him) will always have a home at 24 Sussex Drive.