Michael Higgins: Affordability fuels Canadian anger — not conspiracy theories

Article content

Faced with uncomfortable truths, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau often evades or misleads. Confronted recently about why Canadians are angry, Trudeau blamed wedge issues, conspiracy theories and the “right.” Such deflection will do little to quell the anger — but it does highlight how out of touch the prime minister is with the lives of Canadians.

A disturbing new Leger poll for Postmedia paints a grim picture of the emotional state of the country, and indicates why Canadians feel so livid and bleak.

Article content

Article content

Fifty-nine per cent of people are angry (with one-in-four describing themselves as very angry), while almost three-quarters of Canadians feel like everything is broken.

It is the rising cost of living that weighs heavily on people, not fanciful conspiracy theories. But as Trudeau tells it, Canadians only get angry about politics when they “step out of their daily lives.”

“Right now, politics is designed to get people riled up and take a strong opinion on this or that,” Trudeau told Ryan Jespersen, host of the Real Talk show, in Albert last week.

“So much of politics is disconnected from (daily life) right now because people are trying to create wedge issues”

The prime minister would have us believe that when Canadians are concerned with everyday challenges — such as paying mortgages and grocery bills — their anger somehow disappears. But as this poll demonstrates, Canadians are angry and feeling broken precisely because their daily lives are being undermined. They aren’t upset because of politics, but because they can’t pay the mortgage, because food is so expensive and because health care is failing.

Article content

Article content

When a decent living is beyond reach for many Canadians, it’s obvious that people are going to be gloomy and upset. The prime minister is blind to the causes of these feelings. He is so deliberately blinkered that he refuses to recognize the cause of Canadians’ pain. Since when is paying rent and buying food a “wedge issue”?

The Leger poll asked Canadians what mattered most to them. The top five concerns were: rising costs and inflation; healthcare; affording a place to live; interest rates and crime. These are the things that make Canadians angry, and they’re all parts of daily life.

The poll asked people why they feel the country is broken and, again, the top issues had to do with everyday life: the fact that everything is expensive; the country’s current leadership; the failing healthcare system and the declining standard of living.

As for Trudeau’s mythical “wedge issues” which are so riling people up, they don’t appear anywhere.

“It’s the economy, stupid” worked for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992. Trudeau would do well to remember it.

He would also do well to look at this Leger poll in depth because it is troubling how widespread the dissatisfaction among Canadians is. When 27 per cent of people say they are “very angry” and only three per cent describe themselves as “very happy,” that is a dismal state for a country to be in.

Article content

Men, at 60 per cent, are the angriest but women are close behind at 58 per cent. Meanwhile, more women (72 per cent) than men (66 per cent) believe the country is broken.

Astonishingly, even 43 per cent of Liberals feel the country is broken. When your own supporters feel like this, it’s time to stop making excuses and start dealing with the issues.

And if a country’s future is in the hands of the young, then Canada has little cause for optimism. Two-thirds of those aged 18 to 34 say the country is broken, and over half of them are angry.

Even 58 per cent of NDP voters are pissed off.

The only bright spot in the poll is the 78 per cent of Liberals who are happy with the way the country is being managed. But then, they would say that, wouldn’t they?

The next federal election might not be until October 2025 — a long 19 months away. Trudeau shows no signs of stepping down and with the support for Liberals in freefall, an early election is not on the cards.

In fact, a recent Nanos survey predicts that if an election were held now, the Liberals might be so devastated that they could place third behind the NDP, who could claim the official opposition spot against a majority Tory government.

Article content

Watching the death throes of a political party is usually an interesting academic exercise. But when the last months are accompanied by a prime minister blind to the feelings of Canadians, and a government unable to deal with the top concerns of its people, it becomes an existential threat to a country’s way of life.

Canada is angry and feeling broken because Trudeau is out of touch and the Liberals are out of ideas.

If Trudeau cared about the people, he’d quit. If Trudeau cared about the party, he’d quit. But as Trudeau only cares about Trudeau, he won’t.

And so the anger and brokenness will continue.

National Post

Article content