Justin Trudeau and the Challenges of Populism in North America

Abstract

Politicians who appeal to the wisdom of the people and present themselves as defenders of the people are not fortuitous figures in time nor in the forms they adopt in the twenty-first century. Their rise has taken decades. This means that the conditions of exclusion and/or the lack of opportunities for broad sectors of society have found in populist practices powerful and influ-ential leaderships in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. In this scenario, Liberal Party Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his team have had to use skillful strategies to successfully mini-mize populists, who make conflict and polemics their main political capital for their bases. This article outlines these protagonists and their characteristics in North America and the Trudeau government approach to them.