There’s always ‘more’ for the government to spend, even as Canadians are forced to make do with less and less.
Few Canadian politicians quote economists, and even fewer quote economists who believe in limited government.
If they had to come up with some sort of economist to follow, many Canadian politicians would call themselves ‘Keynesians’, but they would probably even get that wrong.
Keynes advised governments to pull back spending in good economic times, in order to have the room to increase spending to offset recessions.
Instead, politicians like Justin Trudeau spend and spend and then spend some more.
They also somehow manage to spend all that money while still leaving our military unequipped and our nation nearly defenseless in a dangerous world, which is ironic given that Keynesian economics is believed to have proved itself most effectively during times of war.
When it comes to the Liberals & NDP, the closest we get to ‘economic analysis’ is Jagmeet Singh trying to blame high food prices on grocery stores while ignoring his own support for massive spending and high taxes.
In short, it’s total ignorance.
By contrast, CPC Leader Pierre Poilievre actually understands economics and monetary policy.
One reason he his CPC Leader in the first place is that he built up significant credibility through long speeches in Parliament warning about the impending impact of government spending and money printing.
When the Finance Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Canada were claiming ‘deflation’ was the big problem and discounting warnings of inflation, Poilievre was explaining what was going to happen:
Surging prices and economic malaise.
So, by being correct when the top officials were wrong, Poilievre managed to gain political strength which helped him on the path to becoming the Leader of the Official Opposition.
Since becoming CPC Leader, Poilievre has continued to try and address issues at a higher level of discourse than we generally see in politics.
His recent remarks in Parliament on the need for spending restraint are an example of this, as he discusses economist Thomas Sowell’s comments on scarcity, particularly the following quote:
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
Imagine if politicians spending your money were forced to live within their means, just like you. pic.twitter.com/Jfj4DrmMI8
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) January 4, 2023
Poilievre quoting Sowell is significant, because Sowell is one of the most staunch defenders of the core values of Western Civilization, and pushes back against political correctness and the expansion of the centralized state.
This demonstrates that Poilievre is sticking to his unique approach to politics, which is to match high-level conservative principles to the real-world issues people are seeing in their own lives.
This is a way to ‘reach out’ to new voters that is quite different from the usual CPC approach, an approach that was based on the claim that the CPC must simply give in to the Liberal narrative in order to win.
Poilievre is making the case that the high cost of living can’t be fixed with more spending, but that it is high spending in the first place that has contributed to the high cost of living.
It’s the kind of message that has the benefit of being both true, and substantially different than what the Liberals & NDP propose, giving Canadians a real choice and strengthening our democracy.
As the status quo under the Liberals continues to look less and less appealing to many struggling Canadians, the Poilievre-led CPC is carving out a space as the real alternative.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
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