If the people who are supposed to get the basic fundamentals right can’t even do that, why should anyone trust them?
We increasingly here about the lack of trust in Canadian institutions.
But the conversation often takes a strange turn, because much of the media and political class tend to blame the public for losing trust, rather than blaming institutions for having lost it.
They act as if the loss of trust was some sort of strange, isolated, random event.
Yet, the loss of trust happened because institutions have gotten things wrong over and over again.
One of the biggest examples is inflation.
In 2020, both the Bank of Canada and Finance Minister Chrystia were saying that ‘deflation’ was the big threat.
At that time, Pierre Poilievre was warning about the risk of inflation, due to a historic increase in the money supply.
Poilievre was basing his assessment on basic common-sense:
If the increase in the money supply far outstrips the increase in the supply of goods, you have more money chasing fewer goods. Thus, each ‘unit’ of money is less valuable, which manifests as rising prices. Things aren’t really getting more valuable, our money is simply worth less.
That’s exactly what happened, as the Bank of Canada printed money and the Liberal government dramatically increased government spending.
But what was Chrystia Freeland saying at the time?
This:
The Liberals' uncontrolled spending with borrowed and printed cash led to the inflation and higher prices we have today.
Even the Bank of Canada agrees. pic.twitter.com/Km2Xna47k3
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) November 28, 2022
As you saw in the video above, even the Bank of Canada (who were also more concerned about deflation than inflation) have admitted that excessive spending has driven inflation higher.
So, as we consider all of this, it’s easy to see why trust in our institutions has declined.
Until institutions start getting things right, and until there is accountability for those who got things wrong, trust will keep eroding.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
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