HALIFAX—Something odd is happening in Canada’s national politics.

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A case in point: when Pierre Trudeau burst on the scene in the late 1960s, it triggered a remarkable burst of Trudeaumania. The steady but unspectacular Lester B. Pearson was replaced by a political rock star for the first time in Canadian history.   

But it wasn’t long before Trudeaumania morphed into Trudeauphobia. Charisma has a way of ultimately inspiring rejection rather than support on the streets of politics.

Part of that could be explained by Trudeau’s unusual personal style, a combination of magnetism and intellectual daring that came to be seen as a towering arrogance. But Trudeau’s changing public reputation was mostly tied to the thankless task of governing. The longer any leader runs  a country, the less popular they become. Making decisions means making detractors, if not enemies.

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