Éric Bélanger
Associate Professor of Political Science
McGill University
Canada is changing. According to Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson, the change is rooted in a value shift among the Canadian electorate.
More precisely, they argue that the recent rise to power of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, and especially their 2011 election victory, must be laid at the feet of the new immigrant suburban middle class of Ontario (i.e., immigrants from mostly Asian descent who established themselves within the 905 area code).
The authors claim that these newcomers from the Pacific have forged an alliance with voters from Western Canada, leading to a shift in political power away from what they call the “Laurentian elites” who used to dominate policymaking in Canada during most of the 20th century, mainly via the Liberal Party.
