In defence of progressive populism
Andrew Petter is president emeritus of Simon Fraser University. Jim Rutkowski was the principal secretary to former Alberta premier Rachel Notley.The appeal of authoritarians such as Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary and former president Donald Trump in the United States has led many academics and pundits to conclude that populism, by its very nature, represents a threat to free, open and democratic societies.
Indeed, two of Canada’s most consequential populists – former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas and former British Columbia premier Dave Barrett – were democrats to their core. They railed against concentrations of power in the hands of elites to marshal support for far-reaching legislative reforms that endure to this day. The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights – the first of its kind in the country – and B.C.
This is more than a semantic debate of interest to pundits and political scientists. By castigating populism as a threat to democracy, commentators such as Mr. Drache and Mr. Froese throw in the towel on a powerful means for marshalling support in favour of democratic reform, and for countering claims that progressive reformers are themselves elitist.
And here in Canada, B.C.’s NDP government was twice elected on a promise to work for everyday people, not those at the top.
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