It was December, 2023, and Pierre Poilievre had started a speech to Bay Street executives by spelling out his aversion to them.
The audience took in the scolding with stony faces. You could have forgiven some of them, however, for having a good-humoured chuckle into their buffet plates of cod or chicken.
Shrewder listeners probably understood why Poilievre was casting them as aloof and indifferent aristocrats, while presenting himself as an intimate ally of the country’s aggrieved majority. A year and a half ago, it was still the season for targeting and tarring Canada’s elite, and this was kabuki theatre, using exaggerated, stylized gestures of combat to conjure a sense of conflict and confrontation—even though none existed.
After all, Poilievre was fresh from a flurry of private events at which precisely this crowd had donated thousands of dollars to rub shoulders with him. Just the night before, he had mingled with bankers, real estate investors, and corporate executives at a $16-million French-style manor that boasted an elevator, indoor basketball court, and a dressing room bigger than most downtown apartments.
If Mark Carney wins, he will govern in Poilievre’s shadow
Only if we Canadians let him. If Carney, who professed environmentally conscious thinking in his book Values, is willing to borrow Poilievre’s ideas for a campaign, I imagine he is also willing to listen to ideas from the people just the same in government.-
Now’s (or Monday if we hear the result is a Liberal majority) is not the time to despair. It’s the time to put our own progressive slate of ideas together and tell our MPs what we want and how we as Canadians can accomplish it. Rhetoric is rhetoric, I think it’s high time for action, no matter what the ultimate make up of the House is next week.
I imagine he is also willing to listen to ideas from the people just the same in government
I was just thinking that in addition to his “establishment-friendly outlook” when it comes to finance and economics, another danger of Carney leading a majority government is that being aware of his own limited expertise when it comes to other issues, he will be easily swayed by the same combination of advisors, wonks, and lobbyists that led Trudeau to his worst decisions. Just as he has already been persuaded that subsidies to oil companies for “carbon capture” is a great idea, for example.
On the other hand maybe his character and judgement will be strong enough to do better.
On the other hand maybe his character and judgement will be strong enough to do better.
Canadians including myself are all too familiar of politicians losing their convictions to appease established political interests. The fact that Carney has been an outsider to our politics until this year, has me optimistic that he would more likely than most to hold onto them to do what is right (in the utilitarian sense), not just for the connected elite. But it can happen to anyone so I’m not holding my breath for it either.
I think, based on what I’ve heard him say during interviews an such, that Carney has a well rooted mindset and understanding of the workings of the system, beyond the financial side of the economy. I also think he has to win an election for any of that to matter. We’ll only know what’s an election ruse and what’s a real belief once he’s in office by looking at his actions. For example I bet that some significant part of his fossil-friendly rhetoric is just rhetoric so that he can’t be labeled anti-oil which could turn away people who don’t have strong fossil fuel opinions but see some value in the sector in terms of self-sufficiency and security. I bet that the only fossil related rhetoric that materializes would be that which secures our sovereignty and helps solve the EU’s energy insecurity. That’s my bet. We’ll see what materializes.
He doesn’t play word games like every other politician does. Like during the debate Singh caught him offguard by ‘correcting’ an error he made … but it was a nothing burger mistake.
I really like Carney, and that comes from watching him speak during the 2008-09 recession. He says what he means and means what he says. He doesn’t sugar-coat the bad stuff, nor does he elevate the good stuff for his own benefit.
It’s been a long time since we had a chance to elect someone who is honest as the day is long. I’m hoping we take advantage of the opportunity.
Politics now exists to feed a base of social influencers with bullshit to magnify over the social media megaphone. The amount of disinformation that is regurgitated daily is unmanageable. So what do logical thinkers do… Disconnect. It’s not worth correcting everyone we come in contact with. But alas we’re also losing the war because there more it is regurgitated the more it is taken as fact.
The other thing is there is a circlejerk of funding keeping the machine running and the hateful right wingers spend money to feel the machine. Left/centererists tend to be suspicious and want detailed analytics and analysis before trusting.
Plus… A good conspiracy can be fun and empowering, like good gossip it feels good to be on the inside. Deep analysis is boring and rarely rewarding.
We’re fucked.
Because getting the government to build homes isn’t socialism. Because getting the government to build pipelines isn’t socialism. The only thing moving right is hopefully more oil to the east coast.
Because getting the government to build homes isn’t socialism.
I mean, it CAN be, and ideally, it WILL be. But not in Ontario while Ford is Premier.
We really should be working towards depending on oil less, seeing as it is a finite resource and damages any part of the planet it touches.
As somebody who lives in Alberta, fuck the oil industry, the sooner it is dead and gone from this province the better. I hope Carney tariffs the shit out of our oil sands going to the states.
Definitionally public ownership of these things is a socialist policy. In contrast the capitalist version of it is private ownership of all homes and pipelines, mediated by the free market.
