Populism, Trust, and Immigration
March 19, 2026
Liberal democracies across the globe are confronted with complex issues that challenge their capacity to develop and implement effective public policies. The inability to solve these issues undermines their legitimacy and erodes public trust in the institutions that people expect will protect them and ensure their wellbeing. Growing debt, affordability, under resourced public services, housing crises, ineffective border control, are just some of the factors contributing to a sense that governments are overwhelmed and unable to deliver on promises to its citizens. Populism in its different forms, provide a strong narrative that so-called elites act in their own interests and are using democratic institutions to benefit themselves and disadvantage ordinary citizens.
This Symposium addressed three distinct, but interrelated challenges: populism, trust, and immigration. Populist leaders are trying to drive a wedge between democracy and liberalism, arguing that liberal institutions prevent people from acting democratically, sometimes in their own interest. According to the latest OECD’s Survey on Divers on Trust in Public Institutions, national government, national parliament and political parties are the least trusted institutions in democratic systems, falling behind police, courts, civil service and local government.
Immigration is perhaps the most complex policy issue confronting liberal democracies. The same OECD survey indicates one quarter of respondents consider immigration among the top three issues of concern, behind inflation, poverty/inequality, crime and essential services such as health care. Citizens are focused on how immigration policy is managed by their government, even if the underlying causes reasons and the specific challenges can vary significantly from one country to the other. It has become a common flashpoint for liberal democracies in North America and Europe.
In short, the overall connection between political leaders and their citizens seems to be in disarray and under strain. This situation should be concerning for those who believe in strong and effective liberal democratic norms, processes and institutions. The GSPIA invited Canadian and European academics, to reflect on these challenges through panels and a roundtable conducted at the end of the day with speakers experienced in meeting these public policy challenges.
The Panels
1-Populism | Emily Laxer, Rémi Vivès, Eric Montigny and Jared Wesley.
This panel presented contributions that examine the supply side (actors, parties, movements) and the demand side (attitudes, grievances, socio-economic or cultural drivers) of populist mobilization, both inside and outside the electoral arena. It highlighted the work that considers left and right variants of populism and that explores their interactions with issues such as trust in institutions, migration, and the management of complex policy challenges.
2-Trust | Andrew Dawson, Daniel Devine and Marta Kołczyńska.
This panel presented contributions that investigate the dynamics of political trust, the political dimensions of social trust, and their implications for the resilience of liberal democracy.
3-Immigration | Francis Garon, Geoffrey Cameron, Willem Maas, Vincent Hildebrand and Kathryn Barber.
This panel presented contributions on immigration policy at the national level that approach the issue through one or more of the following dimensions: the populist/nationalist challenge, the trust towards the system challenge, and the coherence/competence challenge. .
Practitioners participating in the roundtable hosted by Steve Paikin reflected on populism, trust, and immigration included former Premiers Wynne of Ontario and Couillard of Quebec were joined by Victoria Kuketz, Public Policy Advisor & Obama Foundation Scholar and Allen Sutherland, President and CEO, Institute on Governance. Speakers focused on governments’ responsibilities including failures in addressing these issues, as well as what should be done to regain citizens’ confidence in our democratic institutions and processes. The panel discussed a range of ideas to strengthen liberal democracies including, lowering the voting age, making mandatory voting a duty for all citizens such as the practice in Australia and Belgium; as well as exploring the advantages and shorting comings of revising Canada’s current first past the post voting system.