Death of the ‘Canadian dream’: How Justin Trudeau has transformed Canada

If the current polls are anything to stand by, the next federal election in Canada could mark the end of the Trudeau era bringing a wave of Conservatism with Pierre Poilievre heading the way.

While legalisation on issues such as assisted dying, free speech, and drugs have caused public controversy, Canadians are also increasingly frustrated at the state of the economy.

Trudeau has tense exchange with a steel worker in Ontario

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic Canadians are noticing a downward shift in their country as homes become unaffordable, grocery prices skyrocket, crime becomes increasingly visible and the healthcare system struggles.

An exchange between Trudeau and a local steel worker in northern Ontario caught on camera in August perfectly sums up the fatigue and frustrations Trudeau faces from the public.

In the clip, Trudeau reaches out for a handshake but is refused by the worker who confronts the Prime Minister about his struggle to make ends meet while maintaining a job.

Trudeau responds by listing things his liberal government has done to help working families like a national dental programme and a tariff on Chinese steel designed to protect Canadian workers.

But the worker replied: “I don’t believe you for a second”, after telling the Prime Minister: “I think you are only here for another year.”

Canadians seem to have directed much of their frustration at Trudeau despite some issues such as healthcare being largely overseen by the provinces.

In August, Canada’s national newspaper Globe and Mail issued an opinion piece by author Omer Aziz who wrote that the country is “witnessing a systemic political failure” and the decline of the “Canadian dream”.

An Ipsos poll shows a very clear message from Canadians - economic issues dominate the list of items the public think Parliament should focus on in the upcoming session.

Some 47 per cent want the Parliament to focus on reducing the cost of everyday items such as groceries, and a further 36 per cent are worried about inflation and interest rates.

While in recent decades Canada and America’s economies have largely moved together, since 2022, the United States has motored ahead of its neighbour.

By the end of 2024, America’s economy is expected to be 11 per cent bigger than five years before, while Canada’s will have only grown by six per cent.

If Canada’s provinces and territories counted as an American state, they would have gone from being richer than Montana in 2019, to worse off than America’s fourth-poorest state, Alabama.

While the economy is at the forefront of many voters’ minds, there is also an increasing frustration with much of the legislation processed throughout Trudeau’s years.

One example is Trudeau’s proposed Online Harms Bill C-63, which intends to protect children from online victimisation.

However, under the surface, the bill is “camouflage for something far darker,” according to Canadian psychologist and author Jordan B. Peterson.

The legislation can authorise house arrest and electronic tagging for a person who is considered “likely" to commit a future crime.

According to the Bill, hate crime is a communication expressing “detestation or vilification”, which according to the Government, is not the same as “disdain or dislike”.

Therefore, under Bill C-63, an individual could be put away for life for a crime based on the distinction between “detestation” and “dislike”.

High levels of immigration have also sparked backlash in Canada, with a recent Leger survey finding two-thirds of Canadians believe levels are too high.

Trudeau has vastly increased the number of immigrants, temporary foreign workers and asylum seekers into Canada each year as nearly three million people living in Canada have some type of temporary immigration status, according to the New York Times.

On Thursday, Trudeau acknowledged the failures in his policy and said that Canada would be reducing the number of immigrants allowed into the country.

Canada’s new target next year will be 395,000 compared to the previously proposed 500,000, which will drop to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

The Liberals failed to ensure housing, education and health care kept up with demography and the result has been a lack of public willingness to open its borders.

There has been similar apprehension with Canada’s climate change policies. The patchy redistribution of revenue brought in by tax on carbon emissions has been criticised as it threatens towns and firms that rely on fossil fuels or their extraction.

For defence, Canada also has a fairly negligent approach with only 1.3 per cent of its GDP spent on its armed forces. In comparison, the US spends 3.4 per cent and the UK spends 2.3 per cent, according to Nato estimates.

Other social issues causing tension amongst the Canadian public include the Government's handling of the opioid crisis, which has now surpassed even the epidemic in the United States.

Last year, in an attempt to address the drug crisis, British Columbia (BC) became the first province in Canada to decriminalise the use of hard drugs but has since seen a pushback.

The BC programme, which is running on a pilot basis until 2026, allows adults to possess up to 2.5 grams of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine or methamphetamine, without being arrested, apart from at schools or airports.

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But residents and political opponents have called the project a “harmful experiment” which was implemented without safeguards for the public and has “utterly failed” to reduce drug overdose deaths.

Since 2016, it has also been legal for terminally ill Canadians to choose assisted suicide, under legislation brought through by the Liberal Party.

Five years later Canada loosened its laws to no longer require that a patient’s condition be terminally ill, allowing people with incurable conditions to request it.

Now, Canada is debating extending euthanasia to people suffering solely from mental illness, however, there have been concerns that doctors and nurses may not be adequately trained to determine whether someone with a mental illness qualifies for euthanasia.

Any government in office for almost a decade is bound to make mistakes, however, with calls from within his own party to step down, and a plummeting public approval rate, Trudeau’s spell in power could be drawing to a close.