The loss of provincial Liberal parties is a striking indication of how toxic Justin Trudeau's brand has become

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If I were into conjuring, my next act would be something along the line of “The Amazing Disappearing Liberal Parties of Canada.” I’d have a cape. And an attractive assistant with leggy legs. And sound effects to distract the yokels. “Ladeees and gentlemen … watch carefully as one of Canada’s oldest parties disappears before your very eyes!”

I’m joking. Besides, the ebbing of the party of Wilfrid Laurier, William Lyon Mackenzie King and Lester B. Pearson hasn’t really been like that. No burst of flames and … poof! It’s gone! It’s been more a slow fade into the background, like the Cheshire cat, minus the smile, of course. Instead, perhaps, a pair of eyebrows set in perplexity.

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As in, how on earth did this happen? A good starting point might be the moment liberals became embarrassed about being identified as “liberals.” If memory serves, the blame lies with the United States, where conservatives had great success in attaching the term to the sort of people Americans still consider just slightly off-kilter, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren; figures willing to openly suggest there might actually be redeeming ideas in the whole concept of socialism, rather than condemning it as the work of the devil.

So effective was the strategy that liberals began discovering they weren’t liberals at all, but were really “progressives.” It’s a highly appropriate reflection of the sort of people who adopt it, satisfied in the conviction that anyone........

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