After ruling Canada for nine years, Trudeau’s government has collapsed. In order to explain these events, we are publishing two articles written by Joel Bergman.

The first covers Trudeau’s fall, as well its implications on Canadian capitalism and the class struggle. The second, which was written in December of last year, offers further analysis of the processes at the root of the crisis of Canadian liberalism.

Trudeau resigns but the crisis continues

[Originally published at marxist.ca on 7 January 2025]

Justin Trudeau, the embattled Prime Minister of Canada, has finally resigned. On top of this, he has prorogued parliament until 24 March while the Liberal party finds a new leader. But Trudeau stepping down will solve nothing. This is only the latest episode in the crisis of liberalism.

Liberalism has failed

The crisis of liberalism, the choice ideology of the bourgeoisie, runs deeper than one man. All over the western world, from France to America and now Canada, liberals like Macron, Biden, and Trudeau draped themselves in a ‘progressive’ garb. They presented themselves as champions of women and minorities, protectors of the environment, etc. Meanwhile, the crisis of the capitalist system has crushed the living conditions of the working class.

At best, they have done nothing to solve the pressing issues facing the masses. At worst, they openly attacked workers, like taking away the right to strike as with Trudeau and Biden, or cutting pensions as with Macron. And none of their tokenistic appointments or performative statements have done one iota to end the racism or sexism which run rampant in our society, encouraged by the force of the far right. 

The failure of the Liberals can be seen by the fact that the Canadian economy is teetering on the edge of recession, productivity of labour is declining and unemployment is the highest it has been in eight years! And the policies of the government have doubled the federal debt, limiting the room to maneuver for any future Prime Minister. Whoever follows Trudeau is faced with a completely dire situation. 

Crisis on the horizon

If this wasn’t bad enough, in just two weeks the protectionist maverick Donald Trump accedes to the presidency south of the border. More emboldened than ever, Trump 2.0 is already making waves, threatening 25 percent tariffs against Canadian exports to the U.S. and making repeated jibes about annexing Canada. If Trump does follow through with his tariffs, this would violently push Canada into recession and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs would be lost. 

This is the situation facing a future Canadian government. While it does seem like right-populist Pierre Poilievre will easily win the election, it would be a mistake to think that he would maintain any support for very long. With the economy in the toilet, the massive government debt and Trump threatening tariffs, a Poilievre government would have very little room for error. 

There is heavy pressure from the capitalists to cut social spending, lower corporate taxes, cut regulations and bring down the bloated debt. Other than droning on about axing the carbon tax and cutting environmental regulations, Poilievre has in fact been vague on whether or not he will carry out the main drastic measures the bourgeoisie require.

In fact, he has refashioned the Conservative Party into a right-populist force which, similar to Trump, has been courting unions and speaking to the working class. It is therefore not surprising that he leads among unionised workers and young people. This is something that would have been unheard of prior to Poilievre taking the reins of the party. 

 

 

 

 

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He has created great illusions among sectors of the working class and the youth by promising that he will be some sort of savior. But the millions of Canadians looking to vote for Poilievre are in for a rude awakening. 

Poilievre, much like Justin Trudeau, has no solution to the crisis of the capitalist system, and therefore his brand of populist conservatism is destined to go the same way as Trudeau – into the trash bin. If he does try to do what the capitalists are asking, his government will be immediately hated. If he fails to do so and continues to run deficits like Trudeau has done, he will only worsen the situation and be seen as no different. 

Make no mistake, a Poilievre government will be a government of crisis. They will not have a lengthy honeymoon like Trudeau did as the situation they will face is far worse in every respect and they have far less room to maneuver. Poilievre is probably undergoing an immense amount of stress just thinking about coming to power in these circumstances. 

Welcome to 2025

2025 will be a fundamental turning point in Canadian politics. Liberalism, which has been the saving grace of the bourgeoisie, is a finished ideology. The entire liberal establishment is hated and must be swept aside. 

The fall of the Liberals ushers in a new era of crisis and instability for Canada. And none of the mainstream parties offer any solution. Even the NDP which was supposed to be a socialist party connected to the labour movement has capitulated again and again to the capitalist agenda. 

With the situation deteriorating and no party able to offer a way out, mass class battles and even revolution will become real possibilities in the coming period. 

Working class people must get organised. We must prepare ourselves for this turbulent period on the horizon.

This is why we are building the Revolutionary Communist Party –to organise the working class to fight against this rotten capitalist system.

So join us – and let’s have a revolutionary 2025!

Freeland resigns as government crisis deepens

[Originally published at marxist.ca on 19 December 2024]

Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s second in command, has resigned from cabinet. This has deepened the governmental crisis at a moment when the economy teeters on the edge of recession and the threat of Donald Trump looms on the horizon.

Prior to her resignation, rumors circulated that Freeland and Trudeau clashed over the GST holiday [a temporary tax break] and $250 government rebate. In her resignation letter Freeland criticised Trudeau’s “costly political gimmicks” arguing that they instead needed to keep their “fiscal powder dry” faced with Trump’s “aggressive economic nationalism.”

Trudeau’s strategy of trying to placate Trump seems to have backfired, with Trump doubling down on his threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods coming into the U.S., while adding insult to injury by joking about making Canada the “51st state.”

With the government in crisis and the threat of Trump imminent, things are barrelling towards disaster.

Barreling towards disaster

Following Freeland’s resignation, calls for Trudeau to step down have multiplied, with one Liberal MP claiming that one third of the 153 Liberal MPs now want Trudeau gone. Even the staunchly Liberal Toronto Star, the most widely read newspaper in Canada, is calling for him to step down. 

Now both the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois are calling for Trudeau to dissolve parliament and call an early election. But according to the polls, if elections were held now, the Liberals would lose well over 100 seats. Foreshadowing a future election, the same day Freeland resigned the Liberals were clobbered in a British Columbia by-election, losing the seat to the Conservatives who won 66 percent of the vote. Therefore, the Liberals are resisting a general election with all of their might. 

Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s second in command, has resigned from cabinet. This has deepened the governmental crisis at a moment when the economy teeters on the edge of recession and the threat of Donald Trump looms on the horizon / Image: Communist Revolution

Over the head of Liberals looms the imminent threat of a vote of non-confidence in the government, which will now almost certainly happen at the first opportunity. 

The only thing that can help them to avoid this is continued support from the New Democratic Party (NDP). But the NDP’s desperate clinging to the Liberals has become increasingly ridiculous and is costing them support in the polls as well.

However, Jagmeet Singh seems impervious to the logic of the situation. In response to the resignation of Freeland, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh refused to clarify if he would support the government or not, robotically repeating “All tools, all options are on the table.” 

This forced one reporter to inform Mr. Singh of the reality of the situation: “Sir, the room behind you is a parliament. The government continues to govern as long as MPs continue to have confidence in the government. You have no say who the leader of the Liberal party is. Will you support the government or are you withdrawing your support for the government?”

Unphased, Singh repeated the talking point: “With respect to that I have said that all options are on the table.”

Dark storm clouds overhead

When Trudeau came to power in 2015 he promised “sunny ways.” But nine years later the sun has been blotted out by dark clouds. The election of Donald Trump massively accelerates developments that are upending the entire political dynamic that has ruled the country for the last nine years. 

What is clear is Trudeau is finished and this government will fall, one way or another. The NDP cannot prop up the government forever and the longer they do, the further they are discredited. Just as they were forced to pull the plug on the supply and confidence agreement, sooner or later they will be forced to bring the government down. 

It seems to be a near inevitability that the Conservatives will handily win a majority government in any future election. However, it would be incorrect to think that this would be a stable government. On the contrary. 

Pierre Poilievre would immediately be confronted with a massive crisis at all levels: an economy in the gutter, a crisis of public debt and a trade war with the U.S. 

To top it off, the working class is angry from years of betrayal and falling living standards under the Trudeau Liberals. 

Speaking of how to counter Trump, Poilievre has pledged to “fight fire with fire.” However, these appear to be empty words as he has stopped short of proposing counter tariffs. Canadian capitalism cannot hope to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. behemoth / Image: Wikimedia Commons

Millions of people have illusions that Poilievre is going to make their lives better. And Poilievre has promised the moon – but he will ultimately be unable to deliver.

Speaking of how to counter Trump, Poilievre has pledged to “fight fire with fire.” However, these appear to be empty words as he has stopped short of proposing counter tariffs. Canadian capitalism is a small fish in a big pond and cannot hope to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. behemoth. This explains Trudeau’s subdued approach to Trump this time around and why all political leaders, on the so-called left or the right, are falling over themselves to meet Trump’s demands of increased border policing.

While Trump has not created the current crisis, he certainly has massively accelerated developments and is forcing the situation forward. Canadian politicians can no longer avoid dealing with the crisis.

Freeland, in her resignation letter, suggested that they needed to “fight for capital and investment.” As the Canadian economy has been steadily losing ground to the United States, the pressures for serious measures to break down barriers to capital investment have only gotten louder. Poilievre proposes to “axe taxes and unleash free enterprise.” But given the bloated federal debt, the only way to do this would be to embark on a brutal program of cuts to social spending, public sector layoffs, and further attacks on unions. 

What this means is that in the long run, the Canadian social democratic model is no longer sustainable and future governments will be under increased pressure to attack all of the gains the working class has made in the post war period. 

However, this is easier said than done. Poilievre is not running on a campaign of attacking unions, cutting social programs and laying off public sector workers. If he were to embark in this direction, millions of people would feel immediately betrayed.

Far from presenting himself as anti-union, Poilievre has promised that he will not pass any anti-union laws if elected. Already, trade unions are angry after having the right to strike consistently violated by the Trudeau government and if Poilievre tries to attack unions, any support he has among unionized workers will be replaced with malice. 

Whatever happens, Canada is headed for crisis, instability and class warfare. There is no way to avoid this – the only thing for us to do is prepare.

This is exactly what the newly founded Revolutionary Communist Party is doing.