MCMILLAN: Get radical... do unto Trudeau what Trudeau does unto us

Would you look at them running around? Half of Canadians think they are in danger from a president south of the border and half of them think they should separate. None of them, however, can even agree on what a Canadian is.Does a Canadian “boo” the American anthem at a hockey game or does a Canadian drive a truck to Ottawa in protest of lockdowns? Is a Canadian friendly or a genocidal colonialist? Are Canadians innovators with the world’s richest reserves of natural resources or are they climate change saviours by leveraging taxation? How many genders is a Canadian?Canada is a country that does not know who it is, where it came from and cannot agree on its purpose in the world. This is a problem far bigger than Trump’s tariffs. Canada’s Liberal Party knows this and is exploiting it with everything they have.You will see the Liberals using the same tactics now as were shown during the COVID era. The only difference is that instead of claiming those bearing the Canadian flags are fascists, racists and fringe radicals, the Liberals are wrapping themselves in the flag and claiming to be patriots.Make no mistake, the Liberals are after one thing, and one thing only— power. They only care about Team Canada so long as they gain or retain power.The Liberal Party strategy has always read a lot like Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” — none truer than now. Alinsky was a writer, political strategist and grassroots community activist known for his writings and influence on American politicians like Hilary Clinton and former President Barrack Obama..So, if it seems like Trudeau either fires a woman or demonizes a conservative, that is because those are the tactics he knows best and happens to be rule number two on Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”. Not necessarily firing a woman, but it is a tactic that works for Trudeau and has never steered him wrong in the past. Trudeau hung Freeland out to dry already, had Ruby Dhalla removed from the Liberal leadership race and is focused on the ultimate conservative enemy — Trump. Even in the Liberal Leadership debates, Trump is living rent free in their heads.Yes, but isn’t Trudeau also demonizing Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre? Yes, he is. That is also where rule number five is useful when ridicule is used as often as possible. While Poilievre shows how similar Carney’s policies are to Trudeau’s the hashtag #timbittrump makes an appearance on social media. The conservatives fight with facts, the Liberals smear with ridicule.Most striking though is the use of rule nine, where the perceived threat of something is more frightening than the actual thing itself. This one will take a bit of flushing out, and Trump has helped Trudeau considerably with this one, but the use of fear is a powerful tool.This played out during COVID, the lockdowns and the “threat to our democracy” when truckers had the gall to erect bouncy castles and sing the national anthem with minorities. Those events were so frightful it “justified” the Liberals enacting emergency powers, freezing bank accounts and trampling citizens — sometimes literally.This is playing out now with Trump calling Canada the 51st state. The Liberals are using the fear of American annexation and a trade war to make Canadians afraid. Trudeau even had that “hot mic accident” where he told the Liberal Party how real the threat was. Let’s be honest, President Trump has enough issues inside the US to wrangle, without adding Eastern Canada to his roster. Would you want to add millions of French speaking Quebecois while trying to reduce fraud and the drain on government resources?Nevertheless, while all this is happening Parliament is prorogued, a new puppet leader is being installed, and the Liberals are using this time to consolidate their power for another election. The end goal of all of this is for the Liberals to retain power — Canadians and decency, be damned.While training a group of activist leaders Alinsky was noted for berating them on their idealistic motivations for wanting to organize. “The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution,” Alinsky is famous for saying, and “you want to organize for power.” Power is, and has been, the issue for Liberals all along.Alinsky's playbook cuts both ways however. What Canadians need to do in the coming days is employ Alinsky’s third rule against the Liberals... take the Liberals outside of their comfort zone and expertise. We can achieve this by shedding our fear.Remember, when Trudeau faced a hoard of happy truckers in Ottawa he ran to his cabin and hid. When the Liberals saw minorities uniting to sing the anthem in opposition to their rule they raged. In that moment, when Canadians stood unafraid, the Liberals panicked and reached for the Emergency Measures Act.It can be done again, and we do not need to be the ones living in fear. The problems we face are real, but the solutions are not in the hands of those oppressing us. Preston Manning once wrote, "I believe that in a democratic society, people of faith have a responsibility to engage in the political process to ensure that the values they hold dear are reflected in the policies that govern their lives".Whether it happens in the spring or the fall, an election is coming. We can endure whatever happens between now and then, we are Canadians after all, but we must vote for the values that matter. Sir John A. Macdonald once said, “if you scratch a Canadian you will find a conservative”. I think its time we remind Canadians of who they truly are.Ryan Mcmillan is a graduate of Mount Royal University and the owner of Corsair Communications. X @ryanimcmillan

MCMILLAN: Get radical... do unto Trudeau what Trudeau does unto us

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