Richmond Professor Teams Up with Daughter to publish blog on Canadian radical politics

Dom Alessio, who is Professor of History and Vice President of International Programmes at Richmond, has had a blog published by Fair Observer, a non-profit media organisation.

Entitled, ‘The Radical Impact of Canada’s Fringe Parties’, the blog has been co-authored by Professor Alessio and his daughter, Imogen Alessio, who is studying for a BA in history and political science at McGill University in Canada.

The duo explore in the blog how the emergence of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) has pointed a light at a potentially darker underbelly within the country’s politics:

As the Canadian truck protests spread across the globe, two questions stand out from the growing significance of the PPC that have implications for fringe parties in general. First, could these parties ever evolve into mainstream political parties? Second, could they, as the Canada Guide suggests, “‘spoil’ races in very close elections by pulling votes away from other mainstream parties”?

They conclude:

“The potential political impact of the PPC is undeniable…Most concerning, however, is its ideological impact. As David Moscrop posits in Global News, “The People’s Party of Canada has become a rallying point for extremists who existed before it did, but who now have an organisational anchor and home.”