OTTAWA—Justin Trudeau is framing the next election in stark terms.The prime minister told Liberal volunteers and supporters last week the Oct. 21 vote will be “about what kind of country we want to live in, and who we want to be.”But in the wake of the past two months of controversy over the SNC-Lavalin affair, a new, edgier tone has emerged. It isn’t all sunshine and light. Trudeau has moved, inside and outside the Commons, to link Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer to white supremacism and the alt-right.The prime minister swung hard at Scheer and his conservative ally, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, for using people’s economic insecurities to sow division. Trudeau characterized their position as, “Why worry about climate change, they say, when immigrants are taking your jobs?”Scheer says Trudeau used to campaign against “the politics of fear and division” but now the PM is the one “inflaming very real threats of extremism for cheap political points,” according to his spokesman.“Negative and nasty personal attacks didn’t work in Alberta. And in October, Justin Trudeau will learn that they won’t work for him,” Scheer tweeted this week when another conservative ally, Jason Kenney, was elected in Alberta.Read more:Trudeau portrays Doug Ford and Andrew Scheer as fearful divisive politiciansScheer calls on Trudeau to delay SCC pick until launching leaks inquiryConservative lead widens as Liberals slip in new pollIn an era of social media, daily trolling and online hatred may make tribalism and polarization seem more prevalent than they are. After all, divisive political debates are nothing new in Canada. We’ve lived through them not long ago: free trade, Quebec separatism, the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional battles, to name just a few.Yet several observers and politicians themselves worry about a growing divide. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has noticed a shift ...
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