Has Canadian politics become more Americanized since Trump?

[DC Al Fine]

I don't know if this is because I'm American and I don't know much about Canadian politics before 2015/2016 but has Canadian politics always been like this? Has Canada's politics become more Americanized since Trump took office?

I wouldn't use the intensity of rhetoric on Twitter as a proxy for much of anything. That said, to the extent that it's true, it's been true for a lot longer than Donald Trump's been in poliics. There's this weird phenomenon where people idealize the old Canadian right as this milquetoast ultra-centrist force that never had a harder edge until X (usually the Reform Party) happened, and it's just not true.

The Tories and their predecessors have long been the rural Anglo party and have acted accordingly, which means they've long been relatively pro-gun and skeptical of multiculturalism. The religious right is a lot less prominent here, but they found a home in the Tories long before Trump. The Trudeau hate is in part because his father was PM in the 70's and early 80's and was the most despised-by-Tories leader we've ever had. Heck even the populist tone has an antedecent in Diefenbaker using harsh attacks to win elections in the 50's.

I do think Canadian politics is becoming more Americanized, but it's process that started long before Trump.

[DC Al Fine]

It was under Diefenbaker that the Prairies became a Conservative stronghold (the party used to be centered in Ontario and the Maritimes).  Although his politics were different, the Diefenbaker base looks a lot like the Conservative base today.  He combined economic populism with cultural conservatism.

Diefenbaker was described as a "Red Tory" but the definition has shifted to business-friendly social liberals. 

I'd have been a Red Tory (One Nation Conservative in the UK) in the old sense (like Diefenbaker) but not in the later sense (the business friendly social liberal sense).

Yes, this also shows the limited utility of "Red Tory". It's a decent enough term for sussing out factions in a given time period, but it's almost useless once you expand it beyond that.

[DC Al Fine]

Diefenbaker seems to be quite admired by Conservatives of all stripes, from the very Red Tory Hugh Segal to John Baird and Jason Kenney.

Unlike Stanfield, Clark and Mulroney he was not a "Laurentian consensus" type.

What do you mean by "Laurentian consensus"?

It's a term coined by a journalist about a decade ago to refer to shared values and policies favoured by leaders of both major parties, generally the well-to-do in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

https://c2cjournal.ca/2019/11/fbp-the-laurentian-elite-canadas-ruling-class/

The above link gives a pretty good overview if you're interested.