I can remember when being a Liberal was worthwhile
Trudeau and Biden should have renamed their parties, since they are far cry from "liberal" today
For about 50 years, I voted Liberal in every election in Canada, not because of any allegiance to the Liberal Party of Canada but because Canadian liberal leaders and those members running in jurisdictions where I voted had a vision for Canada that embraced personal freedom, low tax rates, small government, and a free market view of the economy. In those days, “progressives” had slogans like “resist authority” and “free speech” and stood up against and even marched in protest against needless wars and government misconduct.
I first voted while attending Royal Military College of Canada in the 1960’s. Lester B. Pearson (also known as Mike Pearson) became Prime Minister and in my opinion was one of the greatest Canadian leaders of all time. Pearson, despite leading minority governments, enacted Universal Health Care, the Canada Student Loan program, introduced the Canada Pension Plan, and made sure Canada stayed out of the Vietnam war. Pearson kept Canada’s fiscal budget under control. In the 1960’s Canada’s national debt was low and the federal balance sheet prudently managed.
It was not until Pierre Elliott Trudeau was elected in 1968 that Canada’s debt started to rise rapidly and some would say recklessly.
Canada’s first experience with high inflation followed with rates running into double digits in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, often called “the Trudeau years”. The high inflation can be traced to government policies under Pierre Trudeau who held office (with a short hiatus when Joe Clark was Prime Minister) through to 1984. Pierre Trudeau, a marxist by leaning and a socialist through and through, was the primary cause of the economic trauma Canada suffered under his leadership which included the toxic National Energy Program and uncontrolled growth of the federal government and related government debt.
Not to be outdone by his father, Justin Trudeau has doubled the national debt since he took office in 2015, and it now stands well over $1 trillion. I am no longer a Liberal Party voter and unlikely to be again during the decade or two of life I have remaining.
This cartoon aptly compares the Left in the 1960’s to the Left today.
Today’s Democratic Party in United States and Liberal Party in Canada now stand for a brand of authoritarian socialism with curbs on free speech (even mandatory speech such as a legal obligation to use certain pronouns), enforced obedience to medical intervention mandates and massive increases in government size and spending funded not only by higher taxes but also by rampant and even reckless government spending. Free speech is on the block in Canada as the Trudeau Liberals attempt to enact censorship of social media and exercise overt control over mainstream media like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation through dependence on government funding.
North American economies are now suffering the results of left wing leadership in Washington and Ottawa. Inflation is rising quickly. Food and energy prices border on the unaffordable. It has become fashionable to promote “gun control” which is euphemism for taking guns away from law-abiding citizens while criminals have no trouble buying automatic and semi-automatic weapons and using them in a rising wave of crime in both countries. Homelessness is endemic, drug use is out of control, and many cities with Democrat or Liberal municipal governments are becoming unliveable cess pools of homeless camps, discarded drug paraphenalia and uncontrolled crime.
There is hope.
In United States, Florida governor Ron de Santis is pushing back on the “woke” left wing ideology and in Canada Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is pushing back on the toxic Trudeau policies. The latest Canadian polls suggest Poilievre has a good shot at becoming the next Canadian Prime Minister albeit with a minority government.
The latest American poll shows even discredited Donald Trump with a three point advantage over Joe Biden.
Elections in either country are likely at least a year away and in politics things can change quickly. However, the long-awaited recession has yet to materialize and candidates have long since learned “it is the economy, stupid” that determines outcomes.
Ill-conceived “climate” policies point to worsening economic conditions and suggest a change in direction is more likely than not. We can hope.
I too voted liberal for years until Chretien & I finally changed to PC in the nineties. Canada needs a wealthy PC supporter to finance the PC party & push us into a majority
I can remember when John Kerry and Hanoi Jane were ….oh wait ….they were on the side of Ho Chi Minh.
I can remember when Barbara Frum united Canadians; now we get this divisive carving up into silos:
a CBC poster :
It’s not how Canadian you are.
It’s who you are in Canada.