Politics ‘on the edge of dysfunction’, says former Canadian PM

The widening “chasm” between political, business and media elites and the voter has led to Trump and Brexit, says former Canadian PM.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with former Australian Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard in chat at the The Wesley Centre in Sydney. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Politics was on the “edge of dysfunction” in many “important countries” despite the fact that it was the “best time in history to be alive”, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Sydney tonight.

Major political “disruption” has been caused all through the western world by a rapid improvement in technology, globalisation and a stagnation in wages, Mr Harper, the Conservative Party Prime Minister in Canada from 2006 to 2015, said.

Mr Harper declared at the Menzies Research Centre’s seventh annual John Howard Lecture last night that there was a widening “chasm” that had occurred between political, business and media elites and the voter, leading to the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit vote in

the UK.

“My general conclusion is that the populace are largely right in their evaluation of the problems (but) their solutions are another matter,” Mr Harper said.

Mr Harper identified four major problems where people were right to be concerned: markets, trade, globalism and immigration.

“It’s a problem that the benefits of economic growth are overwhelmingly (enjoyed by) the very top of society,” Mr Harper said.

“The populist (movement) is not going to stop. It’s not about Donald Trump.

“It’s not going to stop until the issues behind it are effectively addressed. Donald Trump and these other populists may eventually fail… even in the eyes of their own supporters.”

But the supporters would not then go to “establishment options”, Mr Harper said.

He believed the concern was they would turn to Left wing options like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders who wanted to destroy the capitalist system.

Mr Harper said the key to dealing with the populist views of voters was to lead like John Howard had in Australia requiring leadership that “believed in their (voters’) values”.

Mr Harper said media reporting and commentary often involved election results commentators did not like after which “people are dumb” and the person elected should be investigated and immediately change their policies. “We’re either Democrats or we’re not.”

Stephen Harper, left, and former Australian PM John Howard found common ground. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Interviewing Mr Harper on stage last night, Mr Howard said he agreed with everything Mr Harper had to say.

Mr Howard said there was a failure of the political class to listen to the people and if he was in Britain he would have voted for Brexit.

Mr Howard said his 2001 Liberal campaign opening pronouncement “we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they will come” was the phrase most remembered for his prime ministership and it was wrongly branded “racist”.

Such a phrase was necessary to encourage community support for a large immigration program, Mr Howard said.

Mr Harper said the rise of far right groups in parliaments in Europe was another sign of disruption and it had never been easier through technology to marshal a political movement.

He said the rise of the populist movement had occurred with a third of manufacturing jobs disappearing in the US since the 1980s and despite a huge decrease in world poverty, which had largely occurred in developing nations.”

Mr Harper has just written a book: Right here, right now: Politics and Leadership in the age of disruption.