Coyne: As we enter another precarious year, Canadian politics is tangle of contradictions

Andrew Coyne: I was struck, first, by a piece by André Turcotte, senior adviser at Pollara Strategic Insights, that appeared on The Hub, a conservative website. Noting the contradiction between an electorate that appears, on the surface, remarkably calm, even complacent – “no sweeping electoral realignments, no mass populist insurgencies, and no wholesale rejection of democratic institutions” – and repeated signals of discontent (leaders toppled, caucuses in revolt, parties adrift), Mr. Turcotte points to a deeper contradiction in the polling data: “Canadians strongly endorse many of the core grievances that animate populist politics – namely, distrust of elites, frustration with institutions, and a belief that politics is insufficiently responsive – while simultaneously rejecting populism as an identity, a label, or a leadership style.”…