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A12 O THE GLOBE AND MAIL| WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER16,

U.S. President Donald Trump’s
personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani
will not co-operate with a U.S.
House of Representatives im-
peachment inquiry that is scruti-
nizing his efforts to put pressure
on Ukraine to investigate a
Trump political rival, Mr. Giulia-
ni’s lawyer said on Tuesday.
Mr. Giuliani’s lawyer, Jon Sale,
told a lawyer for the three Demo-
cratic-led House committees
leading the inquiry that the for-
mer New York mayor would re-
fuse to comply with a subpoena
seeking documents relating to
his activities concerning Ukraine.
“This appears to be an uncon-
stitutional, baseless, and illegiti-
mate ‘impeachment inquiry,’ ”
Mr. Sale wrote.
The move represented the lat-
est effort by Mr. Trump and those
close to him to refuse any co-op-
eration with the inquiry. Despite
that, several U.S. officials in-
volved in the matter who re-
ceived subpoenas from the three
committees have testified. Even
as Mr. Giuliani refused to comply,
lawmakers were hearing closed-
door testimony from a senior U.S.
diplomat, George Kent.
House Democrats are focusing
on Mr. Trump’s request to Ukrai-
nian President Volodymyr Zelen-
sky in a July 25 phone call to look
into unsubstantiated allegations

about Joe Biden, the former vice-

president and a leading conten-

der to become the Democratic

nominee to run against Repub-

lican Mr. Trump in the Novem-

ber, 2020, U.S. presidential elec-

tion.

Mr. Kent, who has spent much

of his career fighting corruption

in Ukraine and elsewhere, is the

second career diplomat to testify

as part of the probe after being

subpoenaed. The White House

and State Department had or-

dered them not to appear.

According to The New York

Times, Mr. Kent raised concerns

with colleagues as far back as

March about Mr. Giuliani putting

pressure on Ukraine to pursue

investigations into Mr. Trump’s

political rivals.

Marie Yovanovitch, the former

U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, on

Friday accused the Trump ad-

ministration in testimony of re-

calling her in May based on false

claims.

Fiona Hill, Mr. Trump’s former

Russia adviser, told lawmakers

on Monday that she and her

then-boss, former national secu-

rity adviser John Bolton, were

alarmed this summer by efforts

to force Ukraine to investigate

Mr. Biden and other rivals, and

advised her to notify a National

Security Council lawyer, accord-

ing to a source familiar with her

testimony.

Mr. Giuliani had faced a Tues-

day deadline to produce the re-

quested documents. Mr. Sale said

the documents were protected

by both lawyer-client privilege, a

legal principle in which certain

confidential communications

between a lawyer and client are

kept secret, and executive privi-

lege, a legal doctrine under

which a president can keep cer-

tain information from other

branches ofgovernment.

Democratic Representative

Jackie Speier, a member of the

House Intelligence and Oversight

committees, told MSNBC that

House Democrats would likely

move to hold Mr. Giuliani in con-

tempt if he does not co-operate.

Gordon Sondland, a Trump

political donor appointed as the

U.S. ambassador to the European

Union who was involved in the

Ukraine discussions, is due to tes-

tify later in the week in response

to a congressional subpoena.

Hunter Biden, who had been

on the board of a Ukrainian ener-

gy company, denied doing any-

thing improper in past work for

the company, but acknowledged

he had benefited professionally

from his father’s political career

in an interview with ABC News

that aired on Tuesday.

REUTERS

Giulianiwillnotco-operateinHouseimpeachmentinquiry,lawyersays

JONATHANLANDAY
KARENFREIFELDWASHINGTON

RudyGiuliani,seeninWashingtoninMay,wasrequiredtohandoverrequesteddocumentsonTuesday,

butMr.Giuliani’slawyersaysthematerialisboundbyconfidentialityagreements.ERINSCHAFF/NYT

| NEWS

T

hose who worry that the
angry populism sweeping
democracies around the
world will take root in Canada
might be feeling reassured by
what they see in this federal elec-
tion campaign.
Maxime Bernier’s new Peo-
ple’s Party of Canada is sitting at
around 1 per cent in the opinion
polls. Andrew Scheer’s Conserva-
tives have distanced themselves
from the stumbling Doug Ford in
Ontario. The Canadian left has
produced nothing to match Ber-
nie Sanders and his rants about
the American oligarchy.
But it would be complacent to
think that thewave willpass
Canada by. Even if no populist
voice has emerged in this cam-
paign, the pessimism, cynicism
and anxiety that many voters are

expressing these days make Can-

ada fertile soil for populism. At

least three Canadian premiers –

Mr. Ford, Jason Kenney and Fran-

çois Legault – already show pop-

ulist tendencies. Populism, in a

sense, is already here, and with

room to grow.

Rob Ford grabbed the mayor’s

chair in the country’s largest city

on a platform of bashing the

“elites” and sticking up for the

regular guy. He might occupy it

still if scandal and then a fatal

illness had not intervened. His

brother Doug won the premier-

ship promising to take the prov-

ince back from a self-serving,

overspending political class and

deliver government “for the

people.”

Mr. Kenney came to office last

spring on a surge of anger at Ot-

tawa over the failure to get Al-

berta oil to market. He has

threatened to hold a referendum

unless he gets progress on pipe-

lines and changes to the formula

for equalization payments to

have-not provinces. Quebeckers,

like Albertans, are feeling misun-

derstood, labelled as intolerant

and, perhaps even racist, be-

cause they support an objection-

able new law that bans some

public employees from wearing

religious clothing or symbols.

That sentiment has helped re-

vive the Bloc Québécois, led by

Yves-François Blanchet.

Canadians across the board

seem to be fretful about their ec-

onomic security, which is why

the main political parties are

throwing money at them with

wild abandon in the form of tax

credits and other measures.

Their trust ingovernment has

been falling in recent years, often

a precursor to the rise of pop-

ulism. Polls show they are less

confident than they used to be

that they will be better off in the

future than they are at present.

Pollster Frank Graves of the

Ekos firm says that they are also

less likely to consider themselves

middle class. All of this, remem-

ber, comes at a time when the

economy is growing and the un-

employment rate is touching his-

toric lows.

If Canadians are in a nervous

and vulnerable mood now, how

will they feel when the next re-

cession arrives? And how long

before someone comes along, at

the federal level, to rally them

with the trumpet of populism?

We aren’t out of the woods yet.

In fact, the performance of the

major parties in this aimless

election campaign threatens to

make things worse. None has

managed to articulate a hopeful,

coherent, persuasive vision of

the future. Instead, surrendering

to laptop-toting, number-

crunching strategists, they have

resorted to the modern practice

of targeting various voting blocs

with perks and breaks – a little

something for the old, a little

something for new parents; even

a camping credit to help low-in-

come Canadians visit the nation-

al parks.

If it is straightforward, plain-

speaking, authentic political

leaders that today’s voters seek,

they will not find that among the

rehearsed and programmed

mannequins flying around the

country this month.

The televised debates were

less a contest of differing policies

and ideas than a jumble of care-

fully directed sound bites, with

some schoolyard name-calling

thrown in. Mr. Scheer took ad-

vantage of his debate spotlight to

call Justin Trudeau a phony and

a fraud, a discouraging moment

whatever you may think of Mr.

Trudeau. Even the NDP’s Jagmeet

Singh was ready with prepared

zingers.

A passage from Orwell comes

to mind. In a 1944 column on po-

litical pamphlets, he wrote that

“Nobody is searching for the

truth, everybody is putting for-

ward a ‘case’ with complete dis-

regard for fairness and accuracy,

and the most plainly obvious

facts can be ignored by those

who don’t want to see them. ...

To admit that an opponent

might be both honest and intelli-

gent is felt to be intolerable.”

Today’s party leaders not only

ignore obvious facts; they casu-

ally twist each other’s words to

scare voters away.

The Conservatives say the Lib-

erals’ carbon tax will make Cana-

dians poorer, passing over the

fact that a tax rebate that will

leave most people ahead of the

game.

The Liberals suggest the Con-

servatives under Mr. Scheer will

restrict abortion rights, even

though he has insisted over and

over he would do nothing of the

sort.

It is precisely this sort of poli-

tics that has helped push voters

elsewhere into the arms of poli-

ticians who promise to come in-

to the stale room and bust up all

the furniture. Don’t imagine for a

minute that it could never hap-

pen here.

Don’twritetheobituaryforpopulismjustyet

Votersaremore

susceptiblethanyou

mightthink,andthis

electionisn’thelping

MARCUS
GEE

OPINION