Budget 2025 reads like a better once again telling their fearful charges not to worry, that this time everything will work out just fine, if they trust the smart man.
It'd be refreshing if politicians even sometimes were just straightforward and honest about the limits of their ability to influence things: "Sorry guys - our country has systematically failed to build enough housing for 30-40 years. We're working to fix it, but it's not going to be quick and it's not going to be easy, and there's only a limited amount we can do right now without blowing inflation out of control again."
I would have if Trudeau stayed in. Pierre is a substance-free bulshit artist with no redeeming qualities. His spinning of facts and half-truths was nothing close to reality. His reason for being was to beat Trudeau. When he finally got the election he begged for, he wasn't prepared to fight it. He is not a leader. He is an unelectable fool, out of touch with reality to this day.
A lack of leader-like judgment. He believes loud and obnoxious wins. That works great with triggerered stupid people, but it won't get you far in Canada.
Poilievre blamed the Liberals and more specifically Trudeau and Carney for all societal ills. He would have needed to backtrack virtually everything he hinted at in his campaign in order to communicate a message similar to what George described above.
Why would they think different? It works for them, and they understand Canadians better than the Conservatives. They know this is what enough Canadians want.
Canadians only have themselves to blame. We had a choice to elect a leader who seemingly has the average Canadian's best interest at heart but central and eastern Canada gave us the central banker with no ability or interest to govern for all. Elect a clown, you get a circus, elect a banker, you get Bay Street, Canadians be damned... elbows up indeed!
So, Andrew, what exactly did your old boss Stephen Harper do to fix the The Income Tax Act when he had a majority? What? He just added more complexity by buying off Canadians with more boutique tax credits?
He was in power when I discovered sortition. And I had been voting Conservative for over 30 years up to that point.
Try to imagine how much sympathy I have for your party's predicament.
No, I'm not super impressed yet with Carney either. Again ... Sortition!
Maybe, just maybe if the Liberals would actually work to making Canada an attractive place to invest in, instead of ramming censorship bills through parliament, and celebrating Judas d’Entremont and a budget that’s 8months late - we might actually get somebody, anybody to actually invest in Canada besides Melanie Joly’s power of procurement. I mean it’s only been 197 days since the Carney Liberals were elected to a minority FFS. ENOUGH OF THE PHOTO OPS, and the same useless re-announcements that gets nothing built.
I agree with everything you said in the last three paragraphs, because it applies to everyone sitting in Ottawa. The rest sounded like the same whining of Conservatives who feel, rightly, that they deserved a chance to govern, and would have if Pierre weren't such a complete ass. For the third straight election, the CPC found a way to turn victory into defeat. Maybe they'll finally learn from it. Alas, the Conservatives in power overspend exactly like Liberals. The notion that they are fiscally responsible is pure bullshit. So Canada remains in deep trouble because of its inertia, and a leader surrounded (it appears) by dullards.
I find the difference between Liberal overspending and Conservative overspending is at least with Liberal overspending you get something out of it long-term.
I had hopes that Carney was being honest during the election campaign; he was not . Silly me, but I am not very surprised. He is a Liberal but I still had hope, even though I knew he was being over hyped by the media.
I think if this keeps up, we really just have the same dross, but presented by a far better educated and more intelligent version of J. Trudeau.
...A better educated and more intelligent version of Justin Trudeau might actually go decently, given most of Justin Trudeau's major errors seemed to come from the PMO thinking they were the smartest people who existed. Carney is, I suspect, smart enough to know he can be wrong sometimes.
I'd kill for a competent PM who was a snob. He's the leader of the country, he damn well better be at least a little bit better than the rest of us.
“Thank Fuck Canada is being recogniz(s)ed..” as being run by elites,for elites. Nothing for my son’s generation,except bills and taxes. They suck the big one
The threading of sarcasm in this article felt just right, the imagery of sharing the budget forward to a gang getting their double-double of a morning depressingly apt. I understand the temptation of high-falutin' jargon. But the current breadth of troubles deserves some plain-speaking.
A better read, versus the Budget preamble, is Ben Mulroneys' Obituary for Canada that I read just this morning. Awaiting the unleashing of Canadian super energydom! ha ha ha
Those are Canadian spellings!
It'd be refreshing if politicians even sometimes were just straightforward and honest about the limits of their ability to influence things: "Sorry guys - our country has systematically failed to build enough housing for 30-40 years. We're working to fix it, but it's not going to be quick and it's not going to be easy, and there's only a limited amount we can do right now without blowing inflation out of control again."
Wouldn't it be awesome to just hear the un-whitewashed truth? I'd vote for that.
Did you vote for Poilievre? That’s kind of the gist of his messaging?
I would have if Trudeau stayed in. Pierre is a substance-free bulshit artist with no redeeming qualities. His spinning of facts and half-truths was nothing close to reality. His reason for being was to beat Trudeau. When he finally got the election he begged for, he wasn't prepared to fight it. He is not a leader. He is an unelectable fool, out of touch with reality to this day.
I am told by people who know him personally that one-on-one he's actually quite pleasant.
This raises the question of why his public persona is what it is.
A lack of leader-like judgment. He believes loud and obnoxious wins. That works great with triggerered stupid people, but it won't get you far in Canada.
Poilievre blamed the Liberals and more specifically Trudeau and Carney for all societal ills. He would have needed to backtrack virtually everything he hinted at in his campaign in order to communicate a message similar to what George described above.
At its core, this Liberal government has its motto as "Prioritize the PR/Comms of the message, not the message itself". Same as the one under Trudeau.
Why would they think different? It works for them, and they understand Canadians better than the Conservatives. They know this is what enough Canadians want.
Great essay Andrew. Thanks
Fantastic article!
Carney and all the head-bobber Cabinet ministers (who helped Trudeau create the current mess we are in) are so far removed from reality.
I am senior with grown children, several grandchildren and my concern is Canada's future for them. I have NO hope with this charade of a government.
I am so tired of Liberals saying they know what Canadians want .... THEY DO NOT!
They need to stop blaming Trump for everything, the Liberals were in power for 10 years and look where we are!
Canadians only have themselves to blame. We had a choice to elect a leader who seemingly has the average Canadian's best interest at heart but central and eastern Canada gave us the central banker with no ability or interest to govern for all. Elect a clown, you get a circus, elect a banker, you get Bay Street, Canadians be damned... elbows up indeed!
A colleague of mine has a better saying…
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
100% accurate, I couldn’t agree more.
So, Andrew, what exactly did your old boss Stephen Harper do to fix the The Income Tax Act when he had a majority? What? He just added more complexity by buying off Canadians with more boutique tax credits?
He was in power when I discovered sortition. And I had been voting Conservative for over 30 years up to that point.
Try to imagine how much sympathy I have for your party's predicament.
No, I'm not super impressed yet with Carney either. Again ... Sortition!
Maybe, just maybe if the Liberals would actually work to making Canada an attractive place to invest in, instead of ramming censorship bills through parliament, and celebrating Judas d’Entremont and a budget that’s 8months late - we might actually get somebody, anybody to actually invest in Canada besides Melanie Joly’s power of procurement. I mean it’s only been 197 days since the Carney Liberals were elected to a minority FFS. ENOUGH OF THE PHOTO OPS, and the same useless re-announcements that gets nothing built.
Do these people really know where their bread is buttered?
Does our politics really just train elected people to not give a f** anymore?
Yes it does - it is proven that as a "Liberal" federal [politician you can get away with anything.
They know exactly where their interests lie and it's not with ordinary Canadians.
I agree with everything you said in the last three paragraphs, because it applies to everyone sitting in Ottawa. The rest sounded like the same whining of Conservatives who feel, rightly, that they deserved a chance to govern, and would have if Pierre weren't such a complete ass. For the third straight election, the CPC found a way to turn victory into defeat. Maybe they'll finally learn from it. Alas, the Conservatives in power overspend exactly like Liberals. The notion that they are fiscally responsible is pure bullshit. So Canada remains in deep trouble because of its inertia, and a leader surrounded (it appears) by dullards.
I find the difference between Liberal overspending and Conservative overspending is at least with Liberal overspending you get something out of it long-term.
Finally, a great opinion piece from The Line. I'd thought they'd all turned left!
I had hopes that Carney was being honest during the election campaign; he was not . Silly me, but I am not very surprised. He is a Liberal but I still had hope, even though I knew he was being over hyped by the media.
I think if this keeps up, we really just have the same dross, but presented by a far better educated and more intelligent version of J. Trudeau.
We need better than this.
I also suspect that our PM is a snob.
...A better educated and more intelligent version of Justin Trudeau might actually go decently, given most of Justin Trudeau's major errors seemed to come from the PMO thinking they were the smartest people who existed. Carney is, I suspect, smart enough to know he can be wrong sometimes.
I'd kill for a competent PM who was a snob. He's the leader of the country, he damn well better be at least a little bit better than the rest of us.
“Thank Fuck Canada is being recogniz(s)ed..” as being run by elites,for elites. Nothing for my son’s generation,except bills and taxes. They suck the big one
The threading of sarcasm in this article felt just right, the imagery of sharing the budget forward to a gang getting their double-double of a morning depressingly apt. I understand the temptation of high-falutin' jargon. But the current breadth of troubles deserves some plain-speaking.
I think the new Nordic spa being built in my city will be able to catalyse my nexus. Or possibly some acupuncture.
A better read, versus the Budget preamble, is Ben Mulroneys' Obituary for Canada that I read just this morning. Awaiting the unleashing of Canadian super energydom! ha ha ha