The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent
After a decade of Stephen Harper, the arrival of Justin Trudeau felt like a relief. But as Canadians reckon with the gulf between the dazzling promise of Trudeau's election and the grim reality of his government, journalist Martin Lukacs makes the case that 'real change' was never on the table. Drawing on investigative research and first-hand reporting, he reveals that behind the new wave of Trudeaumania was a slick status-quo political machine, backed by a cast of corporate elites and lobbyists who expected a pay-off from Liberal rule in Ottawa. Lukacs exposes a climate plan hatched in collaboration with Big Oil, the arming of a bloody Saudi war in Yemen, a reconciliation industry that has masked ongoing theft of Indigenous lands, and the sell-off of public infrastructure to private profiteers—a re-branded continuation, not a break, from Harper's legacy. Trudeau's much-hyped new politics, Lukacs argues, was in fact an Instagram-era spin on an old Liberal approach: playing to people's desire for far-reaching change in order to ward off a backlash against the Canadian elite. But as the Trudeau formula unravels, Lukacs warns that right-wing scapegoating politicians are misdirecting this growing discontent with the established order. The only way to defeat the rise of an ugly right—and fulfil the hopes betrayed by Justin Trudeau—is an unapologetically bold response to inequality, racism, and climate breakdown. In this election year and beyond, Lukacs argues it's time that Canada's progressive majority abandon the idea of saviours and renew the task of collectively winning the world we need.
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The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent
After a decade of Stephen Harper, the arrival of Justin Trudeau felt like a relief. But as Canadians reckon with the gulf between the dazzling promise of Trudeau's election and the grim reality of his government, journalist Martin Lukacs makes the case that 'real change' was never on the table. Drawing on investigative research and first-hand reporting, he reveals that behind the new wave of Trudeaumania was a slick status-quo political machine, backed by a cast of corporate elites and lobbyists who expected a pay-off from Liberal rule in Ottawa. Lukacs exposes a climate plan hatched in collaboration with Big Oil, the arming of a bloody Saudi war in Yemen, a reconciliation industry that has masked ongoing theft of Indigenous lands, and the sell-off of public infrastructure to private profiteers—a re-branded continuation, not a break, from Harper's legacy. Trudeau's much-hyped new politics, Lukacs argues, was in fact an Instagram-era spin on an old Liberal approach: playing to people's desire for far-reaching change in order to ward off a backlash against the Canadian elite. But as the Trudeau formula unravels, Lukacs warns that right-wing scapegoating politicians are misdirecting this growing discontent with the established order. The only way to defeat the rise of an ugly right—and fulfil the hopes betrayed by Justin Trudeau—is an unapologetically bold response to inequality, racism, and climate breakdown. In this election year and beyond, Lukacs argues it's time that Canada's progressive majority abandon the idea of saviours and renew the task of collectively winning the world we need.
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The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent

The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent

by Martin Lukacs
The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent

The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent

by Martin Lukacs

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Overview

After a decade of Stephen Harper, the arrival of Justin Trudeau felt like a relief. But as Canadians reckon with the gulf between the dazzling promise of Trudeau's election and the grim reality of his government, journalist Martin Lukacs makes the case that 'real change' was never on the table. Drawing on investigative research and first-hand reporting, he reveals that behind the new wave of Trudeaumania was a slick status-quo political machine, backed by a cast of corporate elites and lobbyists who expected a pay-off from Liberal rule in Ottawa. Lukacs exposes a climate plan hatched in collaboration with Big Oil, the arming of a bloody Saudi war in Yemen, a reconciliation industry that has masked ongoing theft of Indigenous lands, and the sell-off of public infrastructure to private profiteers—a re-branded continuation, not a break, from Harper's legacy. Trudeau's much-hyped new politics, Lukacs argues, was in fact an Instagram-era spin on an old Liberal approach: playing to people's desire for far-reaching change in order to ward off a backlash against the Canadian elite. But as the Trudeau formula unravels, Lukacs warns that right-wing scapegoating politicians are misdirecting this growing discontent with the established order. The only way to defeat the rise of an ugly right—and fulfil the hopes betrayed by Justin Trudeau—is an unapologetically bold response to inequality, racism, and climate breakdown. In this election year and beyond, Lukacs argues it's time that Canada's progressive majority abandon the idea of saviours and renew the task of collectively winning the world we need.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781551647500
Publisher: Black Rose Books
Publication date: 08/07/2020
Edition description: 1
Pages: 280
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Martin Lukacs is an investigative journalist who has covered Canadian politics for more than a decade. He has been an environmental writer for The Guardian and was a co-author of the Leap Manifesto. He lives in Montreal and occasionally visits Twitter.

Table of Contents

Introduction
PART I The Elements of the Formula: Super Brand Trudeau
1. Real Change™
2. The Click-Bait Prime Minister
3. Party of the People?
4. The Best Policy That Money Can Buy
5. The Radical Centre
PART II The Outcome of the Formula: The Elite Pay-off
6. New Masters of the Universe
7. The Corporate Welfare Bums
8. Innovation Mania
9. How Justin Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Alberta Carbon Bomb
10. The Rise of the Reconciliation Industry
11. Sunni Ways
12. #WelcomeToCanada
PART III The Undoing of the Formula: The Pseudo-Centre Cannot Hold
13. The Populism Wars
14. A Green New Deal of the North
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
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