Over in the National Post, Michael Den Tandt offers the theory that Donald Trump and his excesses have poisoned the well for other “outsider” candidates worldwide, and that his flash-over-substance style will make others take a second look. Citing the Conservative party leadership in Canada, Den Tandt supposes that this dooms a potential candidacy by Kevin O’Leary, just as Boris Johnson basically outsidered-himself out of the running to be prime minister in the UK – but I’m not sure that I buy the premise of the argument.

I think that there remains a hankering for outsider candidates despite Trump, and that that precisely because he’s poisoned the well that we’ll continue to see these kinds of players railing against the establishment. As is playing out in the Conservative leadership race here, we’ll see more candidates establish themselves as outsiders struggling against the party “elites” because that’s the narrative that has been blown wide open in recent years. (See: Kellie Leitch and Brad Trost). Den Tandt acknowledges that Tony Clement dropped out because he was unable to attract donors for being too conventional and too much an established politician, which I think is part of what blows his whole thesis out of the water. It wasn’t that Clement got in the race too soon, it’s that this notion of needing to find an “outsider” is a particularly strong influence in the zeitgeist right now, especially for conservatives who feel that the establishment has been letting them down, that it hasn’t gotten them where they need to be (witness how Harper’s incrementalism has largely been undone in a matter of months, if you don’t count the permanent fiscal chokehold that the GST cut has put into place). I think it’s why Leitch is taking the Ford Brothers/Nick Kouvalis route of yelling “gravy train,” and why Maxime Bernier is playing entirely against the rest of the party’s established policies and is getting attention for it. Everyone wants to play against the establishment and they are looking for the right way to do it. I don’t think we’ll have another Donald Trump – it would be hard to get that kind of unconstrained id and utter narcissism in a single package again – but I think there is absolutely going to be yet more people trying to find the right balance. I’m not sure it’ll be as successful in Canada as it might be in the States (particularly as our system is not really broken like theirs is), but the impulse to find that outsider is still pervasive, and it will be felt in the race here.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau met with the prime minister of France and basically said that if the EU can’t get their act sorted on CETA that their usefulness is in question.
• Trudeau also dodged having to answer questions about Donald Trump by simply pointing to his own feminism when it comes to treatment of women.
• TD Bank’s economists figure that lower revenue growth than expected for the government will mean a bigger deficit.
• The head of the PM’s “economic council” says there’s no silver bullet to growth, but is looking to “bold implementation” of existing ideas.
• With the softwood lumber deal now over, here’s a look at some of the US demands with an agreement, and why we could see trade sanctions by spring.
• The Federal Court has ruled that the court challenge on Senate vacancies is moot given that Trudeau is making appointments (and didn’t comment on merit).
• New guidelines for domestic travellers with medical marijuana have been posted.
• Canada is leading an inititative at the UN to get the General Assembly involved in the Syrian crisis as the Security Council has repeatedly failed to do so.
• Erin O’Toole is making a “special announcement” today, while Chris Alexander is trying to rehabilitate his image, saying his bid is about the party, not him.
• Chantal Hébert makes some pointed observations about the vacant electoral reform report the NDP released.

Odds and ends:

There have been questions about Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido’s law firm using his photo with the PM for promotional reasons (amidst some of their other issues).

The interprovincial alcohol case in New Brunswick may be skipping the Court of Queen’s Bench and going directly to the Court of Appeal because of its importance.

So, is Patrick Brown demanding that the PM interfere in an area of provincial jurisdiction? https://t.co/85TFftqHNf

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 13, 2016