Like father, like son?

Canada, like its southern neighbour, enjoys political dynasties more than Australia. And there is no dynasty larger than the Trudeaus, Canada’s Kennedys.

Justin Trudeau followed in his father Pierre’s (left) footsteps in leading Canada, but Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre (right) appears likely to win the next election.Credit: Illustration: Dionne Gain

Pierre Trudeau, prime minister between 1968-79 and 1980-84, defined much of modern Canada and its progressive-left Liberal Party. The Charter of Rights, fighting Quebec separatism, and, in particular, being “not America” on the global stage.

His son Justin, famously destined to be PM since being anointed by then-US president Richard Nixon when he met Trudeau Snr in 1972, brought the Liberal Party back from political extinction in a single election in 2015, rekindling the “Trudeaumania” his father inspired in the ’60s and ’70s. Those of us with a different political outlook have always been perplexed by his status as a progressive icon despite the incidents of dressing up and blackface, or his ethically compromised removal of his attorney-general (the first Indigenous woman in the role).

While Trudeau’s global fans might be surprised by his demise, no one in Canada is. Though he won a majority in his first election in 2015, his popularity waned relatively quickly; he ran minority governments in 2019 and 2021, and won fewer votes than the Conservative opposition on both those occasions.

Like his........

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