Canadian party leader Thomas Mulcair says Donald Trump is a fascist, as he blasts Trudeau for demurring

Thomas Mulcair, the leader of Canada’s progressive New Democratic Party, has called Republican frontrunner Donald Trump a “fascist”, and taken aim at Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, for refusing to condemn Trump’s candidacy.

“Donald Trump is a fascist,” Mulcair said at an event last week. “Let’s not kid ourselves, let’s not beat around the bush.”

He pointed to Trump’s proposals to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and build a wall along the Mexican border as examples of how the leader was appealing to what he called “the lowest feelings in human nature”. The remarks surfaced this week after the NDP sent a videoclip of the remarks to media.

Mulcair also attacked Trudeau’s reticence to speak frankly about Trump. “I will not hesitate to point out the fact that Mr Trudeau just shrugs his shoulders when he’s asked about Donald Trump and says, ‘Oh the relationship between Canada and the United States goes beyond any two individuals,’” he said. “I’m sorry, if a fascist becomes president of the United States, I want to be on record as having opposed it long before that election.”

Trudeau, dubbed the anti-Trump by some in the US media, has shied away from offering his views on the possibility of Trump at the helm of Canada’s largest trading partner in recent months. “I’m not going to pick a fight with Donald Trump right now. I’m not going to support him either, obviously,” he said at a forum in early March.

Trudeau’s hesitation was later probed in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “I respect the American electoral process. I have faith in what [Abraham] Lincoln referred to as ‘the better angels of American nature’, and I am looking forward to who I am going to work with after 4 November,” Trudeau demurred.