Could a Trump-like movement happen in Canada?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Conservative Party leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch extended congratulations to Donald Trump in a Facebook posting yesterday.

The Ontario MP also appealed to Canadian supporters of the president-elect, saying Trump has an “exciting message that needs to be delivered in Canada as well.”

But whether or not a similar movement could catch on here and pick up enough steam to enter the mainstream, remains to be seen, though the possibility certainly exists.

“At this point we can’t know for sure what the chance is, but we have to take it seriously,” says UBC political scientist David Moscrop.

So the idea of someone at least trying to take a similar path here can’t be discounted.

“One thing this Trump election will do to a number of countries is embolden the sort-of outsider, non-elite, non-expert. Now the person might be an elite, but if they can capture the non-elite narrative, then they can certainly pretend not to be,” says Moscrop.

Trump’s movement began small and spread and even though Moscrop calls Canada more Liberal, once an idea is out there, it can grow quickly.

He says most so-called protest movements fizzle out, but every now and then they do build enough momentum to burst onto the mainstream.

“Oh that happens all the time, these sort of, what are seen as protest movements or protest candidacies or votes come and go and they often wash away. But every so often they gain traction,” says Moscrop.

He points to the 13-year-run of the Reform Party, born out of the discontent of mainstream Conservatives under then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

“The rise of the Reform Party in the 80s and 90s, that was in large part about protest and it could happen again,” says Moscrop.

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