Listen Up! A need for optimism, hope and joy | Commentary

It was barely a month ago that American President Joe Biden, under huge pressure from his own party, announced that he would not seek a second term in office. So much has changed in that country since then.

Prior to bowing out of the presidential race, it appeared more and more that Joe Biden could not defeat Donald Trump in the election that will be held in November and that down-ballot elections for the Senate and House of Representatives would also be negatively affected. 

It was a race between two old men, one relatively decent but with apparent cognitive issues and the other seriously flawed in numerous ways. With the exception of Donald Trump’s cult-like MAGA followers, who gave him the edge, few Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, were happy with the choices they had been given. Optimism was at a low ebb.

But then things changed almost overnight. It was like a dam burst. Current American Vice President Kamala Harris, who was pretty much a non-entity before this (as most vice presidents are), locked up the delegates to the Democratic Convention, which will be held in Chicago this week, and became the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

In her wake, while accomplishing this, Harris has managed to convert apathy about the coming presidential election into hope. This is not because she is a shoo-in to win that election but rather because there is a real race now with very definitive differences. While polling between Harris and Trump is improving for the Democrats, the race is still neck and neck and within the margin of error.

However, what has changed dramatically in the United States in the past few weeks is the level of optimism. Polling has shown that this has grown substantially. People are more excited about the November elections and more likely to participate in events leading up to them. They are drawn to messages of hope and positive initiatives for the future, and they now have a contest of clear contrasts in that regard. 

Compare all of this to what is happening currently in Canada, and there are some similarities. Apathy about political leadership here, in my view, is at a high level. A significant number of Canadians believe that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is well past his best before date, and many other Canadians are wary about the prospect of Pierre Poilievre becoming the next Prime Minister of Canada.  

There is little doubt that if a national election were held in Canada today, the Conservatives, currently with a twenty-point lead in the polls, would form the next government. The two really pertinent questions, however, are first, how much of that current lead for the Conservatives is because people want Trudeau to go, and second, will it, in fact, be Justin Trudeau leading the Liberals into the next election? 

I continue to believe that, barring a snap election, Justin Trudeau will announce his retirement this Fall. The Liberal Party and the people in the back rooms who run it are not suicidal, and they know, short of a miracle, that they cannot win another election with Trudeau at the helm. Once they have it, power is not something any political party gives up without a fight. They will put as much pressure on the Prime Minister to go as Democrats have put on President Biden in the United States.

If the Liberals have a credible new leader with sufficient time before the next election to set a new and positive direction for Canada, that election, in spite of current polling, will become a horse race. 

Whether or not there is a new Liberal leader, Pierre Poilievre will lead Conservatives into the next federal election. His opponents are doing everything they can to paint him as another Donald Trump, and while the jury is still out for me in relation to Mr. Poilievre, that is neither accurate nor fair. 

J.B. Pritzker, the Governor of Illinois, recently said this: “Donald Trump is a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, a congenital liar. He is a racist, misogynistic narcissist who wants to use the levers of power to enrich himself and punish anyone who dares to speak a word against him.”  That may be Donald Trump, but no matter how much one dislikes or fears Pierre Poilievre, that is not him.  

What needs to be determined about Pierre Poilievre is how far to the extreme right he is on the political spectrum. That is not yet clear. Recently, he said the party he leads into government will be a centrist Conservative Party, and Conservative friends of mine here in Muskoka have also echoed that. Now, Poilievre needs to prove it.

I don’t believe a centrist government would “axe the carbon tax” without both acknowledging that climate change is real and having a specific plan to address it. While I believe that the CBC needs serious reform, continuing a pledge to defund it ignores its cultural base and importance to many Canadians. It risks losing the support of some Conservatives and the support of Liberals who might otherwise hold their nose and choose Poilievre over Trudeau. 

The verdict on Justin Trudeau is pretty well in. We now need less focus and attacks on him and more about what a centrist Conservative government can do for Canada.  We do not need to hear how Canada is broken. What we need to hear is how a good country like Canada can become even better. 

Currently, Pierre Poilievre is long on invective. What we need to see is a plan for what a centrist Conservative government would do for Canadians, including how it would fire up our optimism, give us hope for the future, and demonstrate that it has our backs, not just our pocketbooks. 

In the United States, citizens are now looking to the coming election as an opportunity to erase doom and gloom and embrace hope and new opportunities. Whoever delivers on that message will likely win the election.

In this country, our general election may be officially a little further away, although, under our system, it could also happen any day. Surely, we, too, as a nation, have a pent-up hunger for optimism, hope, and even, perhaps, a little joy.

 As in the United States, it is my view that whoever can best satisfy that hunger will form the next government in Canada. 

Hugh Mackenzie

Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.

Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.

In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.

Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.

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