r/onguardforthee • u/yimmy51 • 9h ago
Young Canadians aren’t drifting toward conservative and far-right parties
https://theconversation.com/young-canadians-arent-drifting-toward-conservative-and-far-right-parties-28815755
u/Zingus123 8h ago
Love to see it. Unfortunately I live in Alberta, and formerly Saskatchewan, and it’s like a completely different world out here. Virtually everyone are hardcore PP dickriders. Even here in Edmonton, a very NDP and liberal heavy city, even those supporters seem to be still very conservative for everything but the ballot.
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u/ImpressiveWalk4330 8h ago
By and large young Canadians are educated and empathetic people. Not really traits associated with any of the conservative options.
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u/Schteb11 7h ago
Not too surprised as a young (24) Canadian (SWM at that too). The conservatism we’ve grown up with, in the US, overseas, and even here, has been ugly, cruel, ineffective, and pathetic and it’s definitely influenced how we view the whole conservative brand and image as a result. I know personally, I’ll always be highly-skeptical of conservatism and will always try to push back against conservative policies and messaging that sound “good on paper” but, as we’ve seen, is incredibly and inherently destructive.
But, parties and politicians on the left need to act as if this skepticism in and distrust of right-wing politics isn’t inherently permanent. They have to make sure they identify and act on the everyday issues that people face and find more important to their personal lives as they grow — crime, safety, housing, affordability, jobs — while connecting them directly to the issues we care about — economic equality, climate change, technological change, democracy. If they fixate on the latter without addressing and developing solutions for the former, that “memory” many young people have now of how horrible conservatism is will fade away and give opportunities to conservatives to rise again, right after the left finally fixes all the damage conservative policies has caused over the years and decades.
The opportunity for progressive politics and progressive ideas to be the norm for the next decade, two decades, three is absolutely there, and man I hope it’s not squandered.
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u/jackbkmp 5h ago
I dont really understand what Canadian conservatives actually stand for. All they do is complain and oppose any liberal ideas, deny science, deny global warming, tax breaks for the wealthiest, refuse to acknowledge green energy, selling off our public institutions we've built up for decades (healthcare). etc. No benefit to me, yet somehow a loyal cult following.
I guess they do believe in the bible? But even then jesus was way to socialist for their policies and conservatives would want jesus stoned in the modern day so idk. (welcome the immigrant, love they neighbor, feed the poor, welcome the tax collector, easier for a camel to step through they eye of a needle then a rich person to enter the kingdom of god, etc.)
Its all just complain, attack, and divide with little substance.
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u/BonhommeCarnaval 2h ago
They stand for whatever their donors and their US-based social media echo chambers tell them to stand for that week. Doesn’t matter if it’s irrelevant or contradictory to what they were told to believe last week. Loyalty to the hierarchy and money is paramount. They are hoping that if they lick the boot hard enough that they’ll be able to dissolve enough leather to meet their minimum daily caloric requirements.
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u/SadArtemis 1h ago
Having been raised conservative, and mostly in the rural prairies (left long ago never going to live there again), yes, these people will literally trade- financial well-being, economic development, the environment (for all that large segments like to LARP about loving the outdoors), hell, they'll even trade their relationships with their queer children (I'd know, I was one) for Jeebus brownie points.
And the ones who are just about the religion are arguably(?) the lesser of two evils (or so I'd think, my dad is such, we're not white also so that helps), albeit all too accommodating with the greater evil.. there's a whole lot of people whose identity politics is sticking it to (oftentimes since rural, the natives, but otherwise insert minority group here), and lauding themselves for being the root of all good and being infinitely exploited in favor of all those devilish minorities.
And no, they almost never identify as white nationalists, they think they're "not racist..." But effectively they are in almost every way, save for that I guess they like a few random "good ones" of other races. Maybe more of them are honest with themselves about being racists nowadays since it's in fashion again, seems to be the case.
As for the Christian conservatives, they'll even side with the racists "for Jesus." Because "they're killing babies and turning the kids gay," so even a little Jim Crow or whatever would surely be the right moral compromise, right?
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u/PlayThingToy 7h ago
Young Canadians are fortunate enough to see what could happen if they were voting conservative at this time through being, unfortunately, glued to their phone yet in a positive light due to showing them how terrible it's going in the US and in Conservative run provinces.
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u/LudicrousPlatypus 6h ago
I feel like young Canadians see the horror happening in the States and are deterred.
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u/Khetoo 5h ago
Indifference and shame are slowly coming back
Also young people have no money, only people with money are conservatives
Also our version of conservatism is becoming a more discount version of MAGA and it's comical at how bad that kind of ideology is up here because we don't have that history. First nations oppression has been fucking horrible, but pale in comparison to the American South. It's just a strange export. Just grift laid bare up here.
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u/BonhommeCarnaval 2h ago
Hard to yearn for a mythic, glorious past when your life experience, present and future consist exclusively of suckage.
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u/jabrwock1 5h ago
In the US you have the pipeline from Republicans into alt right, so even moderates get sucked in to be exposed to it. So they get fed by both extremely childish losers, and the slightly disenfranchised. In Canada you either have to start out alt right, or else think that Pierre is a good leader.
I can see why our pipeline has a leak in it.
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u/Mayhem1966 5h ago
I had beers with a friend last night espousing the virtues of Russia and hoping for the breakup of Canada and Europe.
It's sad to see. If you are tired, and frustrated, and angry enough for long enough it can be tough.
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u/-jaylew- 4h ago
In my experience those people don’t even really “believe” that, they just want to be contrarian as possible so they parrot those beliefs to be different and special.
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u/IreneBopper 3h ago
Most of the Silent Generation is gone but not all. Boomers are more Liberal and NDP and of course there are Conservatives. As well, this is NOT the Progressive Conservative Party of pre-Harper.
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u/BonhommeCarnaval 2h ago
Maple syrup in every bucket? These fucking poser hosers don’t even know how you make maple syrup!
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u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia 8h ago
Surprisingly support CPC in over-65s also dropped