Yahoo Finance Joe Oliver: Helpful New Year’s advice Justin Trudeau likely won’t heed
I have to be one of the last people Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would accept year-end advice from, ahead of only his almost-certain successor, Pierre Poilievre. And I’m not really interested in helping the Liberals recover from their death spiral. But in the spirit of “country over party,” here goes.
Prime Minister, let’s agree your first priority is hanging on to power. The latest evidence is your support for a UN vote that, by calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, effectively denied Israel’s right to defend itself — and without mentioning the Hamas atrocities that broke a previous ceasefire. Your second-level priorities relate to transforming Canadian society through identity politics, climate catastrophism, Indigenous reconciliation and multiculturalism.
But Nanos polling finds Canadians’ three top concerns are all pocketbook issues — inflation, jobs/economy and housing — not your priorities. Two other issues top-of-mind to Canadians are immigration, which has clear economic implications, and “Canadian values,” which has to do with who we are as a nation. To have any chance of eking out a minority government you need to address these concerns — and to do so convincingly.
A Leger poll conducted in November found that 78 per cent of Canadians are concerned about how the Middle East conflict is impacting communities here. Since then there have been numerous pro-Palestinian/pro-Hamas demonstrations (some quite disruptive, like the protest in Toronto’s Eaton Centre), attacks on Jews and boycotts and vandalism targeting Jewish businesses and institutions. So concern may now be even greater. Moreover, 51 per cent of Canadians believe the government should “encourage newcomers to Canada to embrace the Canadian values of liberalism and tolerance of people of other faiths, races, and orientations.”
Prime Minister, you endlessly proclaim that diversity is our strength. But the Leger poll says 56 per cent of Canadians support a more tempered view: “some elements of diversity can provide strength, but some elements of diversity can cause problems/ conflict in Canada.” And there is no difference in response rates between white and non-white Canadians. As for extremism, three-quarters of respondents believe that anyone who does not have permanent status should be deported for publicly expressing hatred toward a minority group or support for a listed terrorist organization.
Canadians’ support for diversity clearly stops where intolerance begins. You should not have kowtowed to political donors by taking Hamas’s side at the UN. Doing so degraded your moral standing. People won’t readily forget the loathsome thank-you video from Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas leader who has vowed to keep attacking Israel until it is destroyed.
You need to get right with Canadians’ patriotism. You may be the only political leader — anywhere, anytime — to declare his country has no core identity and is the first post-national state. Apart from a coterie of elite wokesters, few Canadians agree. We are a highly tolerant people and strongly support immigration. But this year’s inflow of an unprecedented 1.13 million immigrants is alarming, especially with housing prices already sky-high. A new three-year visa program for extended family members living in Gaza should be monitored carefully to exclude terrorists who could jeopardize national security or, for that matter, may have butchered or kidnapped Israeli men, women and children. Also, a mandatory orientation session should stress that Canada respects freedom of religion and abhors antisemitism, particularly since the limited time frame will be impossible to enforce.
On the economy, Prime Minister, you need to abandon your obsession with big government and profligate spending. Canada’s abysmal productivity manifests itself in a flat or declining standard of living, especially for the economically disadvantaged.
The remedies are as clear as they are urgent. Build pipelines to tidewater so our immense oil and gas reserves can be sold to energy-hungry markets in Europe and Asia, thereby creating jobs and generating funding for social programs and tax relief. Cut back on spending, freeze growth in the federal public service, develop fiscal anchors and aim for a balanced budget in the intermediate term, say four years. Eliminate red tape and intrusive regulations that trammel the private sector. Simplify the tax code and lower taxes on job-creating businesses to encourage entrepreneurship and capital investments. Invest in R&D and stop subsidizing the private sector, especially basket cases that have no future without long-term handouts. Work seriously and in good faith with premiers, even ones you don’t particularly like, to remove inter-provincial trade barriers.
The good news, Prime Minister, is that the annus horribilis that 2023 was for you is almost over. The bad news is that a recession looms. Fairly or not, you will be held accountable. Announcing the proposals I’ve just listed would bolster flagging business and consumer confidence and mitigate the economic downturn.
Pretty well everything I suggested is anathema to you, which is why the country is in a pickle and your poll numbers are in the ditch. It also, in large measure, reflects Conservative ideas. But Liberals have never been reluctant to plagiarize when it’s to their advantage and dumping Jagmeet Singh and pilfering from Pierre Poilievre would at least make your policies well-founded, though not original.
If you choose to ignore all this sound advice, however, my last suggestion is to strap on your snow boots and take the proverbial walk.
Joe Oliver was minister of natural resources and then of finance in the Harper government.
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