Canadian Politics Would Possibly Have A Nepotism Problem

In Canadian Politics the coming months are set to yield 3 by-elections to fill vacant seats within the House of Commons. And in 2 of those, the most competition is that the offspring of the previous office-holder.

Carr is mulling a run for the Liberal nomination in Winnipeg South Centre. The seat vacated by the recent death of his father Jim Carr. And with Conservative MP Dave MacKenzie set to retire from representing. The Ontario riding of Oxford at the tip of the month, his daughter debutante Tait is trying to fill the post.

It’s one amongst the a lot of obvious samples of late that Canadian politics. Features a little bit of a weakness for family dynasties.

Justin Trudeau

The present prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is after all the primary son of another prime minister, state capital Trudeau. And Trudeau is the second Liberal prime minister in a very row who was raised by a Liberal Party patriarch. Paul Martin, who was prime minister from 2003 to 2006, was the son of a veteran. Liberal cupboard minister who had tried thrice for the party leadership.

Federal Election

Within the last federal election, Trudeau long-faced off against then-Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole. Who is himself the son of a politician, Ontario MPP John O’Toole? For a quick amount of time, the individuals of Durham, Ont. Were even served at the same time by father and son; Erin at the federal level, and John within the provincial legislature. 

Even the NDP – the same {old} decrier of old boy’s networks and honorary privilege – is shot through with. The product of families whose political lineages return nearly to the time of Confederation.

John O’Toole, father of Erin O’Toole.

The genealogy of former NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair includes no lower than 2 Quebec premiers. Jack Layton, the party’s leader from 2003 to 2011. Was the son of a federal cupboard minister and therefore the grandchild of a Quebec cabinet minister.

David Lewis, NDP Leader from 1971 to 1975, has currently spun off 2 generations of Canadian social democratic royalty. Son writer Lewis diode the Ontario NDP for abundant of the 1970s. Grandchild Avi Lewis hasn’t been ready to secure an electoral workplace. An Associate in Nursing NDPer, however, he did champion the Leap declaration that tried to dramatically rewrite NDP policy in 2016.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

The NDP’s current leader, Jagmeet Singh, has even covered a very little bit of kinfolk politics. though his own rise was comparatively meritocratic, once Singh left Ontario provincial politics in 2017 his brother Gurratan took his place as a Brampton MLA.

And family names have additionally helped stack the leadership of a number of provincial governments. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is the son of a provincial MPP and therefore the brother of a Toronto mayor. His kinsman archangel was named by Ford because the province’s minister of citizenship and multiculturalism immediately after initially winning a seat in the Ontario legislature.

And Doug Ford’s Minister of Transportation is Caroline Mulroney. Guess who her dad is? PHOTO BY RYAN STELTER/MINER AND NEWS/POSTMEDIA NETWORK
And Doug Ford’s Minister of Transportation is Caroline Mulroney. Guess who her dad is? PHOTO BY RYAN STELTER/MINER AND NEWS/POSTMEDIA NETWORK

Politics dynasties are a feature of virtually any democratic government, of course. The winner of the Philippines’ most recent presidential election was Bongbong Marcos, son of the country’s former dictator. And everywhere from India to South Korea has elected leaders who were the direct offspring of former leaders.

But even then, there is some evidence that the issue is more prevalent in Canada than in comparable democracies.

A 2018 study published in the journal Historical Social Research found that the U.S. and Canada together had the world’s highest recent rate of elected national leaders who had a close familial connection to a previous national leader. Since 2000, both Canada and the United States have featured governments headed by the sons of leaders who filled the same post as recently as the 1980s.

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