Politicians must respond properly to populist sentiment: Manning
OTTAWA — Preston Manning. Doug Ford. The architect of the campaign that saw Britain vote to leave the EU.
Lions of populism addressed a gathering of conservative thinkers in Ottawa on Friday, seeking the tactics and tools to rejuvenate Canada’s right amid global political instability that’s seen traditional approaches swept aside.
For Manning, who tapped into a well of Western alienation in the late 1980s to form the Reform party, politicians who ignore the undercurrent of disenchantment with the traditional political establishment do so at their peril.
“The answer is to manifestations of Trumpomania is not Trumpophobia, but political leadership that addresses the root causes of voter alienation and redirects negative political energy into positive ends,” Manning said Friday at the annual conservative conference that bears his name.