Stanley Hartt and Brian Mulroney

Bloomberg Canada: Lawyer Stanley Hartt, who served as former prime minister Brian Mulroney chief of staff, told Bloomberg Canada on Tuesday he thinks Canadians could gravitate to a Trump-like figure because so many are disengaged. "With an economy that flat, despite the fact that governments keep telling us they're wonderful, you look at youth graduating from university, and they're told, 'you stay in college, get your education, you're going to be able to get a great job...' they can't get jobs." Minority communities and older people have trouble finding work too, he said, according to Huffington Post Canada. Anger could build, Hartt said, making a populist candidate more attractive to disaffected voters. "All of those people look at the government, and the opposition, frankly, because they change from time to time, and say, 'You guys haven't managed this for my benefit.'" We can learn from our southern neighbours, he said, partially by having fewer candidates and fewer debates that force them to perform. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was widely applauded back in December when he criticized Trump "politics of fear" and "hateful rhetoric." But an anti-establishment candidate could gain momentum in next year Conservative party leadership race, according to one political commentator. He also agreed that there are parallels between Trump and "Shark Tank" host Kevin O'Leary, who has expressed interest in running for the Conservative party top job. The "Shark Tank" host himself has rejected comparisons to Trump. Both have business and reality TV backgrounds, Hartt said, but zero political experience. "So basically they're coming along as total outsiders and they're earning their media by being interesting in the worst sense of that word." But he stressed that O'Leary hasn't mused about banning groups of people from the country, or building a wall. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.