No borders for populism

Re: It wasn't about race, Jonathan Kay, Jan. 8

Kay has written a perceptive article, to which I would add one qualification. Both left- and right-wing populism (even American-style extremism) do indeed have a resonance in Canada. Just a few weeks ago, we witnessed a manifestation of it here in Toronto, when several hundred maskless protesters marched north up Spadina Avenue, many hoisting proTrump and anti-Trudeau signs.

Forty years ago, when I was living in Edmonton, I observed a native Canadian populism grow into a political force called the Reform Party. There was then, as there is now in rural Ontario and the Prairies, a deep antipathy to the political style and economic policies of the Liberal elite in Ottawa.

Trumpism has badly warped the whole fabric of American politics, but looking back over the past 60 years, the most striking difference between presentday Canadian and American conservatives is that the former tend to be a much more reserved and less aggressive lot.

Gary S. Tait, Toronto