Early in his speech to the Conservative conference last Friday, Pierre Poilievre laid out the basic dreamscape of his party’s platform:
“A kid could start anywhere and get anywhere. Hard work used to get you a powerful paycheque that bought you good food and a descent home and retirement in a safe neighbourhood and a free country. And every generation was just a little better off than their parents. That was the promise of Canada.
“And that is the most important promise that Justin Trudeau broke.”
Sounds good, right? Motherhood and apple pie. Little Johnny and Susie (or Pierre and Anaida) growing up to lead the country.
But it is a load of hogwash. A fictionalized account of this country written to appeal to his base with the notion that Canada was perfect until the Liberals under Trudeau came to power. Only the Conservatives can take us back to the “good old days.”
I am not sure where to begin to dissect this. I know lots of people who have worked long, hard hours and were never rewarded with a descent paycheque, let alone a “powerful” paycheque.
I know lots of people who struggled to get a meal or find shelter, let alone good food and a descent home. I grew up in Vancouver in the 1970s and 1980s, under both Conservative and Liberal governments and the downtown eastside was an area of concern then. It still is. One of my high school friends’ father was a pastor in the eastside and the tales he told. I saw it firsthand.
Retirement in a safe neighbourhood has always depended on your socio-economic status, upon your ethnicity, wealth, stature, and education. And a free country? When did Canada become a country that is not free? We have liberties much of the world envies.
Yes, we are better off than our parents in some respects. But things have also gotten worse. Inflation has taken a big bite out of life and it was highest under the Conservative governments. Unemployment rates track the same as do the increases in our national debt, except recently under COVID.
The “Canadian promise” was broken long ago if it ever existed at all. Pierre Poilievre saying Trudeau broke it doesn’t make it fact.
Todd Whitcombe is a chemistry professor at the University of Northern B.C.
