Conservative parties lost by a landslide in the recent Australian and Canadian federal elections.
The defeat of both the Liberal Party of Australia, and the Conservative Party of Canada a week earlier, came as a shock to the many who tipped them to win, following national polls in their favour just months earlier.
But the re-election of Donald Trump, and the swift implementation of his world-rattling policies, set into motion an urgent reorganisation of priorities for voters around the world.
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How leaders would respond to Trump’s policies, and handle their redefined relationships with him, was brought front and centre, as were fears that parties would concede and conform to Trump’s controversial style of conservative leadership, after recognising its success in the US.
In the end, both Peter Dutton and Pierre Poilievre did not just lose their elections, they lost their seats.
Throughout his campaign, Dutton had been nicknamed Temu-Trump, referencing the online retailer known for cheap copies.
Canadians similarly called their own conservative leader Timbit-Trump — a nod to the small doughnut holes sold at the nation’s hugely popular chain Tim Horton’s. Poilievre was also commonly called “Maple MAGA”.
While conservative parties often boast stability, Trump does quite the opposite, and comparisons to the US president bring with them problems when promising predictability,
Aside from tariffs, Trump is willing to make moves that unnerve massive cohorts of his conservative following,
From claiming Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was “gambling with World War III” by refusing to give up the Crimean Peninsula, to posting an AI-generated image of himself in a papal headdress, alongside a caption that said he would “like to be Pope” the night before the Australian election.
‘Im my own person’
Dutton made attempts to distance himself from Trump, insisting: “I’m my own person.”
But the comparisons had already begun to mount.
One such comparison came as Dutton proposed a plan to reduce the Australian Public Service by 41,000 workers, just months after Trump fired thousands of workers, including top officials and watchdogs, and dismantled a key humanitarian agency.
Dutton’s stance on migrants, and his branding of the nation’s public broadcaster as “hate media”, both draw similarities with Trump, alongside accusations that Dutton stokes culture wars in Australia.
Coalition frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price also publicly vowed to “make Australia great again”, a clear echo of Trump’s famous rally cry.
And there were claims that Donald Trump’s campaign co-manager secretly visited Australia to help with Liberal strategy ahead of election
In Canada, which Trump earlier this year threatened to annex and absorb, an even more imminent problem was created.
Cansdian Prime Minister Mark Carney pushed back hard against Trump during his election campaign and spoke to this in his victory speech late last month.
“As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats.
“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never ever happen.”
— With CNN, NBC
