Like "conservative" before it, "populist" as it's been used recently is just another misleading name the press uses to avoid calling the re-emergent far-right by its proper name, and any debate about what it actually represents, much less the threat it poses. 

Such behaviour has greatly assisted in the far-right's troubling re-emergence. 

But since Harper's rebranded Reform/Alliance gang so badly damaged the country, and especially since Trump's win in the US - where he has since empowered the very people he feigned opposition to - people have largely come to recognize the far-right for what it actually is, and its support worldwide has taken a serious hit. 

Hopefully this will be followed by a resurgence of real populism, and progressive movements and parties that will begin to address the many daunting crises caused by the right's monopoly on power.