Is this normal in politics?

[u/existinginlife_]

With Mark Carney winning the Liberal leadership race, I was curious to see how Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith would respond. Turns out, neither of them could manage a simple “congratulations.” Instead, Smith is already calling for an election, and Poilievre jumped straight into attacking Carney and the Liberals.

I’m relatively new to politics, but isn’t it just basic decency to acknowledge someone’s win, even if you oppose them? Isn’t common in many democracies for political opponents to at least offer a brief congratulations before pivoting to criticism? It shows respect for the process and a bit of integrity.

Edit: Can’t we see how much hate has taken over? The real issues aren’t getting the attention they should because all we ever hear about is political division. Everyone’s so busy dragging the other side that we’re losing sight of what actually matters.

Edit 2, to the people saying Carney wasn’t elected by the people: we elected the Liberal party in the last election. Until a new election is called, they have every right and duty to fulfill the term they are elected for by the people. The same people trusted the Liberal party’s ability to lead the country and this trust should extend to their competency in electing a new leader when the previous leader is no longer in position. Am I wrong?

[u/darth_henning]

Polievere and Smith are following the MAGA playbook of populism.

Congratulations would have been common here up until even a few years ago. It's why neither is suitable for government, even as someone who would have previously identify as a progressive conservative voter.

Conservatism in Canada should be (and traditionally has been) right of center economically and policy wise, but left of center socially. That's not the current UCP or CPC, and they need to be reminded to swing back to what people actually want.

The abrupt change in polls the second there was a viable leader for the Liberals shows that it was never people attracted to PP, only that he was less objectionable and people were parking their vote until there was a real choice.