Canada’s Aboriginals need to learn the value of hard work more than they need compensation for abuse suffered in Residential Schools.
- Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MP and Parliamentary Secretary; June, 2008
Pierre Poilievre’s easy win of the CPC leadership has been pretty big news in this country. Nevertheless, with all the kerfuffle going on about the death of the British Queen, and the ceremonies that have followed, the recent election of the new leader has received somewhat less media coverage and discussion as would normally occur. But we need to think and talk about, not only the kind of leader he would be, but what type of human being the man is, and what it means about his party, and future implications it might have for the Canadian political scene.
Leaving aside his ridiculously and patronizing words, “Canada’s Aboriginals” - really just inane, colonial and racist, codswallop - let us be very clear that, with the snarling and threatening Poilievre becoming leader of the CPC the party has confirmed its own dreadful, colonial nature and intent. Not only that but much of the rest of his messaging over the years has sent strong communications that any progressive notions of what Canada can and should be will be held, not simply as bad ideas, but demonized with the strongest contempt.
For example, Leah Ganz (2022) has pointed out his rank hypocrisy with his anti-tax increases on the rich, “Poilievre is silent about the rich CEO’s hoarding wealth while working people struggle to get by”. Also, Katrina Miller (2022) of Canadians for Tax Fairness noted that, “In his first address to the Conservative caucus, Poilievre made it clear he’s returning the party to a hard-line, anti-tax agenda. Matched with his proclamation of being on the side of workers and seniors, the hypocrisy is striking.” And Linda McQuaig (2022: A19) takes the micky out of the notion that the leader of the PCP is a populist:
The media hype of him as a fiery populist is just talkity-talk. Indeed, the notion that he is a populist is not just wrong, it’s downright silly. … Indeed, the notion that he is a populist – someone who backs working people isn’t just wrong, its silly. He is actually the anti-populist: instead of championing the interests of working people, he routinely crushes those interests.
Of course, the Cons have never been in any way that McQuaig means. They perennially have been the party of the monied classes and represented a shallow, “money talks”, approach to government, even more so than the Libers. To be fair the party itself has, over the years, had some well-known “moderates” like the late Flora MacDonald and David MacDonald (the two Conservative politicians are not related) and more recently Michael Chong. The Harper version of the Cons, however, even with its insincere and empty apology, certainly demonstrated a patrician’s dismissive attitude to Indigenous people. And he and his government often enacted legislation to beat down other marginalized groups, like women (Press Progress, 2015) and the poor and disabled (Beeby, 2015). Harper however, often had the sense to at least moderate the language he used, most of the time. This Poilievre, however, bawls and brays his kind of crude and retrograde messaging from the rooftops. He is clearly courting the dregs of Canadian voters. That the CPC has crowned this vile political weasel and peddler of vacuous aggrievement should tell us all we need to know about how little thought and decency remains in the party. Ever since Preston Manning and Harper put a fast one over on the poor dupes that were “progressive” conservatives and engineered the takeover of the PCC, the level of conservative discourse has been sliding down a steep slope of anti-intellectualism, anti-media hysteria, bigotry and mean-spirited anti-public good. This new leader’s particular mean-spirited ignorance confirms to everyone that the Conservative Party of Canada, including most of the parliamentary caucus, which enthusiastically confirmed him as their “dear leader”, is now in the grip of the unsavoury, hard right base with its own particular devil’s brew of colonialism, misogyny, anti-government, racism, Ayn Rand toxic-individualism, anti-immigrant ideology, etc., etc.i
The crass language as well as the myopic focus on making welcome the most deplorable elements of the Canadian population can only have a profound and destructive influence on Canadian politics. We need only look to the four year Trump administration, run by one of the most demagogic, dishonest, greedy, politicians the US has seen, to see the effects the politics on offer from a Poilievre party will have here. And should the Poilievre Cons win the next election, Canadian government policy will move in a highly destructive direction indeed. Harper did a good deal of damage in his years in office, but we can think of a Poilievre administration as Harper on steroids, which will result in an even more bleak Canada for the middle/working class and in particular for marginalized populations.
Resources
Beeby, D. (2015). “Harper government left $97M unspent on social services, report shows”. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-government-left-97m-unspent-on-social-services-report-shows-1.3063878 . May 5.
Gazan, L. (2022). “Poilievre is a fake freedom fighter”. Toronto Star. September 18, IN7.
McQuaig, L. (2022). Populist persona a right-wing remix”. Toronto Star. September 22. A19
Miller, K. (2022). “Pierre Poilievre vs. the elites (unless they’re rich)”. The Toronto Star Sept. 16, P. A.14. Press Progress (2015). “9 ways Conservatives have shown how little they care about women. Press Progress. https://pressprogress.ca/9_ways_conservatives_have_shown_how_little_they_care_about_women/. Oct.8.
i Poilievre is of course well known for his embracing of the so-called, “Truckers Convoy” which, besides making life miserable for many Ottawa residents, blocked two important Canada-USA border stations and tried to engineer a wacko plan to overthrow the Canadian government
Pierre Poilievre’s easy win of the CPC leadership has been pretty big news in this country. Nevertheless, with all the kerfuffle going on about the death of the British Queen, and the ceremonies that have followed, the recent election of the new leader has received somewhat less media coverage and discussion as would normally occur. But we need to think and talk about, not only the kind of leader he would be, but what type of human being the man is, and what it means about his party, and future implications it might have for the Canadian political scene.
Leaving aside his ridiculously and patronizing words, “Canada’s Aboriginals” - really just inane, colonial and racist, codswallop - let us be very clear that, with the snarling and threatening Poilievre becoming leader of the CPC the party has confirmed its own dreadful, colonial nature and intent. Not only that but much of the rest of his messaging over the years has sent strong communications that any progressive notions of what Canada can and should be will be held, not simply as bad ideas, but demonized with the strongest contempt.
For example, Leah Ganz (2022) has pointed out his rank hypocrisy with his anti-tax increases on the rich, “Poilievre is silent about the rich CEO’s hoarding wealth while working people struggle to get by”. Also, Katrina Miller (2022) of Canadians for Tax Fairness noted that, “In his first address to the Conservative caucus, Poilievre made it clear he’s returning the party to a hard-line, anti-tax agenda. Matched with his proclamation of being on the side of workers and seniors, the hypocrisy is striking.” And Linda McQuaig (2022: A19) takes the micky out of the notion that the leader of the PCP is a populist:
The media hype of him as a fiery populist is just talkity-talk. Indeed, the notion that he is a populist is not just wrong, it’s downright silly. … Indeed, the notion that he is a populist – someone who backs working people isn’t just wrong, its silly. He is actually the anti-populist: instead of championing the interests of working people, he routinely crushes those interests.
Of course, the Cons have never been in any way that McQuaig means. They perennially have been the party of the monied classes and represented a shallow, “money talks”, approach to government, even more so than the Libers. To be fair the party itself has, over the years, had some well-known “moderates” like the late Flora MacDonald and David MacDonald (the two Conservative politicians are not related) and more recently Michael Chong. The Harper version of the Cons, however, even with its insincere and empty apology, certainly demonstrated a patrician’s dismissive attitude to Indigenous people. And he and his government often enacted legislation to beat down other marginalized groups, like women (Press Progress, 2015) and the poor and disabled (Beeby, 2015). Harper however, often had the sense to at least moderate the language he used, most of the time. This Poilievre, however, bawls and brays his kind of crude and retrograde messaging from the rooftops. He is clearly courting the dregs of Canadian voters. That the CPC has crowned this vile political weasel and peddler of vacuous aggrievement should tell us all we need to know about how little thought and decency remains in the party. Ever since Preston Manning and Harper put a fast one over on the poor dupes that were “progressive” conservatives and engineered the takeover of the PCC, the level of conservative discourse has been sliding down a steep slope of anti-intellectualism, anti-media hysteria, bigotry and mean-spirited anti-public good. This new leader’s particular mean-spirited ignorance confirms to everyone that the Conservative Party of Canada, including most of the parliamentary caucus, which enthusiastically confirmed him as their “dear leader”, is now in the grip of the unsavoury, hard right base with its own particular devil’s brew of colonialism, misogyny, anti-government, racism, Ayn Rand toxic-individualism, anti-immigrant ideology, etc., etc.i
The crass language as well as the myopic focus on making welcome the most deplorable elements of the Canadian population can only have a profound and destructive influence on Canadian politics. We need only look to the four year Trump administration, run by one of the most demagogic, dishonest, greedy, politicians the US has seen, to see the effects the politics on offer from a Poilievre party will have here. And should the Poilievre Cons win the next election, Canadian government policy will move in a highly destructive direction indeed. Harper did a good deal of damage in his years in office, but we can think of a Poilievre administration as Harper on steroids, which will result in an even more bleak Canada for the middle/working class and in particular for marginalized populations.
Resources
Beeby, D. (2015). “Harper government left $97M unspent on social services, report shows”. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-government-left-97m-unspent-on-social-services-report-shows-1.3063878 . May 5.
Gazan, L. (2022). “Poilievre is a fake freedom fighter”. Toronto Star. September 18, IN7.
McQuaig, L. (2022). Populist persona a right-wing remix”. Toronto Star. September 22. A19
Miller, K. (2022). “Pierre Poilievre vs. the elites (unless they’re rich)”. The Toronto Star Sept. 16, P. A.14. Press Progress (2015). “9 ways Conservatives have shown how little they care about women. Press Progress. https://pressprogress.ca/9_ways_conservatives_have_shown_how_little_they_care_about_women/. Oct.8.
i Poilievre is of course well known for his embracing of the so-called, “Truckers Convoy” which, besides making life miserable for many Ottawa residents, blocked two important Canada-USA border stations and tried to engineer a wacko plan to overthrow the Canadian government
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