Mount Royal University political science professor Dr. Duane Bratt discussed populism and politics with the crowd gathered at Frank Wills Memorial Hall for the monthly Cochrane IDEAS event.
Populism is a political movement that “puts power in the hands of the people,” according to Bratt,
Populist movements can be seen on either side of the political spectrum and they often involve a charismatic leader uniting people against a common enemy.
“The focus is on the ‘pure people’ versus the ‘dirty, corrupt people’,” said Bratt.
“Some focus on business elites, some focus on media elites or academic elites. So, it all depends on what your definition of elite is.”
Bratt added that left-wing populist movements are often focused on economic issues, where right wing populism tends to focus on cultural identity/identity politics.
Populist movements typically arise in times of poor economic conditions but this is not always the case.
“For some reason in Alberta it doesn’t matter what the conditions are, there’s populist movements,” said Bratt.
“Alberta is the epicenter of populist movements [in Canada].”
The emphasis on individualism in Alberta culture as well as the feeling of Western Alienation from Eastern Canada were identified as two driving forces behind Alberta’s political climate.
Alberta’s first populist movement began in 1909 – four years after the province formed in 1905 – with the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) who began as a economic interest group before eventually forming a political party in 1921 and was later elected as the Alberta government.
“The interesting point about this is the UFA fought the election in 1921 without a leader,” said Bratt.
“Today, we’re in the middle of an Alberta election, the focus is all on the leaders.”
Alberta has gone through several populist movements up to and including present day with the UCP.
“Now, we have the UCP that’s Jason Kenney with a grassroots guarantee. Kenney promised when he was running for leadership of the UCP that he would be focusing on grassroots members of the party,” said Bratt.
“We’ll save an assessment of how grassroots the UCP is.”
Bratt turned the focus to world politics where he remarked on the odd nature of the right-wing populist movement led by Donald Trump in the USA.
“On the surface, he is the weirdest person to be a populist. This is a billionaire who lives in a penthouse tower in New York City and who owns a major golf course and resort in Florida and yet somehow he becomes the representative of the working class,” said Bratt.
“Part of that was his rhetoric, which was so over the top. He attacked free trade and the corrupt elites and the establishment.”
In the second half of the presentation, Bratt fielded questions from the audience which were largely focused on the current provincial election and the upcoming federal election.
Bratt assured attendees that the vitriolic nature of the current election would not end after the ballots are cast.
“Yes, it has been a nasty, vicious campaign, and it ain’t going to stop on Tuesday,” said Bratt.
The next Cochrane IDEAS presentation will be held in May.
The speaker will be talking about alternative energy sources and a world without fossil fuels.
