On Horses**t

I was recently reading a post by Paul Wells on what Pierre Poilievre is telling people these days. It’s the standard stuff of opposition speeches: point out what’s going badly, blame the government, say you’d do better. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but one thing stood out to me. Poilievre talked about unaffordable rents and the rise in people using food banks. These are real problems, legitimate critiques of this aging Liberal government, and good to point out. It’s the source that’s odd.

The track record of conservative parties on equality is one of making it harder for working people to organize, of demonizing the poor, of privatizing public services and of cutting taxes for the wealthy while leaving wages low for everyone else. This is not an accident or the work of a few bad apples along the way: it’s the project. When Poilievre wraps himself in the flag of defender of the little guy, it’s laughable. That’s just not the team he’s on.

The sad thing is that the little guy isn’t laughing, he’s clapping along. Parties of the right have done a tremendous job of co-opting populist “us vs. them” language. This can be of the worst kind, allowing space for hate against various easily targeted minorities. And this is where the left has tended to fight them, hoping that the “deplorable” elements of this approach will turn “normies” off enough to vote against them. What’s missed is how effectively conservative movements have co-opted this language into a call against wealthy and privileged elites who keep the best of what belongs to us all for themselves. No matter that these are the same elites that fund their campaigns and benefit from their policies, the rhetoric is what matters and it works.

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David Moscrop’s reflections on the passing of Ed Broadbent and two related books on the troubles with the contemporary left of what has been lost in the economic arguments. Simply put, for social democratic parties to be successful, they have to call out the false promises of their opponents and reclaim the mantle of the working class. 

The economic and social populism which led to the rise of the CCF/NDP in the prairies has been co-opted by parties that see the value of the pitch even if they don’t share the principles. Emblematic of this was when Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe donned a borrowed set of coveralls to address a rally outside the Saskatchewan legislature. Steel Workers and Building Trades union members, the same folks who frequently join New Democrats at other events, were there in force, supporting a message of fighting for their industries.

I attended the rally with a speech folded in my pocket, a message that joined with them in their concern for their jobs and wages but poked holes in the image of the Sask Party as friend of the little guy. I didn’t get called to the mic, and was tentative enough about poking the bear with some strong language that I didn’t push my way to the front. In retrospect, I wish I’d run the risk of a minor obscenity (they happen) and some pushback from the crowd. We need that for a better society we need more than railing against the elites, we need parties and policies that will make us moer equal and more prosperous.

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