Do you know the saying? In politics, you don’t win an election, you let a government lose.

Such is the case in Ottawa, where we see the Trudeau government slowly falling apart, both from the outside and from within.

Outwardly, I’m talking about this slow-motion car crash caused by Prime Minister Trudeau himself because of Chinese interference.

Justin Trudeau, always there to teach a course on Democracy 101, is suddenly so reckless about the organized interference of a foreign power in our democratic process.

There is nothing to see, it is circulating, says the prime minister, because the election result is not in jeopardy. If there’s an error, it’s the intelligence agencies that are leaking the information.

This is a very funny pair of glasses worn by Justin Trudeau.

And as always, when he finds himself in his last entrenchments, he draws the card of anti-Chinese “racism.” Or better yet, that of Trumpism, to blame the conservatives who question him.

This is more about electoral clientelism: we don’t want to lose the voice of the Chinese community.

criticism with raised visor

If it were just an intrusion, one might infer Justin Trudeau’s characteristic recklessness.

However, his leadership is beginning to be challenged from within. We now reject it with visor raised.

Have you seen government officials defending the PM over Chinese interference? Not me.

On the Official Languages ​​Act, some MPs – and even a minister, Marc Miller – are continuing their crusade against party commitments. What about the Elghawaby affair, in which Ministers Pablo Rodriguez, David Lametti and Pascale St-Onge all expressed their unease at the appointment and the Prime Minister’s statements?

Certainly, the population doesn’t follow all these political details, but the feeling is there from coast to coast: according to a Léger poll, only 26% of Canadians want Justin Trudeau to run again in the next election. It’s minimal.

poilievre

Despite everything, Pierre Poilievre struggles to embody a reasonable alternative.

In fact, one could say that his situation is worse than Trudeau’s; 23% of Canadians – and just 13% of Quebecers – believe Poilievre has what it takes to become prime minister, according to the same poll.

If the government is defeated, the opposition is also masochistic.

Have their conservative dumpling of the week. Three MEPs met one MEP from the German right, Christine Anderson, muse of European populism. His xenophobia and conspiracy can be found in two clicks. They didn’t know, they say. While they resisted, the Trudeau government intervened.

Consider Poilievre’s surreal comments on medical euthanasia. He made a connection – hold on tight, it’s brave – between food banks, medical euthanasia and Justin Trudeau.

This brutal right, this raging American populism that often treats reality as a detail, has no blueprint outside of the hyper-angry militant circles where the conservative leader is celebrated.

So here we are facing a “neither nor” Canadian good. Neither Trudeau nor Poilievre.

Torn between a government at the end of its reign and an implausible alternative.