The 51st State Votes: Canada Versus Donald Trump

by Justin Ling

Genres: Politics

100 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2025

Reviews

[Jake M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Justin Ling's title discusses the unique nature of the 2025 Canadian federal election. Ling looks at a fledgling leader in Justin Trudeau, his successor Mark Carney, the supremely confident Pierre Poilievre, a tanking New Democratic Party and the graceless and aggressive U.S. president. A majority of the text is committed to how the president's belligerence and economic brinkmanship benefited Mark Carny, whereas Polievre failed to adapt to the new Liberal leader and address the crisis at hand. The text is economical, highlighting key campaign moments that determined the result. Additional content on the NDP's collapse and Polievre's failure to leverage provincial conservative counterparts would have been welcome.

[Sebastien Proulx-Bonneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, balanced, I enjoyed the book. I had followed the campaign more than usual (as most canadians it seems, this time around), and the book went deeper into the context of many of the moments I had missed or overlooked during the campaign. Sobering thoughts about the future of Canada in the world, to closeout.

[Patrick Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ling is terrific at distilling and presenting information, but the briefness of this work reads more like the start of a longer and more in depth work yet to come some years from now. And I will be okay with that!

[Matt Vincelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and easy to read. Could have added another 80 pages, eg, more backstory on some of the characters / circumstances / context. Still, I’m glad I read it and look forward to more from him.

[AH · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good analysis of the election but didn’t include enough discussion of strategic voting by NDP voters. This was a key factor and was barely mentioned.