Trudeau Doesn’t Care About the Cost of Living
The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis, and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts, and business news in the region. Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter based in Halifax.
I learned one thing during my short, but eventful, stint as a small-town mayor: you rarely have control over the cause of a crisis. What you have 100 per cent control over, however, is how you react to it. And the more serious a crisis, the more heartache and energy you put into it.
I had no control when my town’s old infrastructure led to a pipe bursting, leaving us without water for two weeks. But what I could do was take unpaid leave from work and spend every waking moment trying to find a solution.
I certainly couldn’t help it when a town manager stole more than $70,000, before I was even on council, all while leaving our filing system in complete disarray that required a near forensic audit. What I could do was call the police and make sure we were tracking down every piece of missing documentation possible.
This is why I am both perplexed and absolutely livid at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cronies’ inept and lackadaisical attitude towards the greatest crisis of my generation: the cost of living.
I’m not trying to say in any way that my experience as a mayor compares to being able to be Prime Minister. First of all, I don’t speak French, so count me out as disqualified. But the issues facing us nationally are so complex, I don’t think I’d be suited.
But what I said earlier still holds water: leadership is still the same at its core, regardless of rank. A leader reveals their true colours when things go sideways. Will they spend every waking moment finding a solution for the people they represent, or will they duck and cover? Trudeau has clearly chosen the latter.
Trudeau, contrary to some of his most vocal opponents, didn’t cause the inflationary crisis. In fact, I’m willing to give credit to the feds for their pandemic response in 2020. They saw a financial emergency with millions of Canadians and business owners at home and unable to work. They did what they had to do and spent billions of dollars to keep families and businesses afloat.
There are many who believe that Trudeau is an elitist who is cozier with the ultra-rich than the ultra-poor. During this inflation crisis, he has done nothing to dispel this image. Mega corporations, unlike small businesses, have seen record-high profits. The Liberals have been pressured to introduce a windfall profit tax to certain sectors, like oil and grocery corporations. Trudeau has found the lamest excuses not to.
“The last thing we want to do is put on a tax that people then just pass along to the consumers,” Trudeau said in 2022.
What kind of explanation is that? Can’t you say that about any tax on businesses? Trudeau is giving powerful corporations carte blanche to always use this as a threat. “Tax us more and we’ll just pass on every cent to the end consumer.”
Remember folks, a windfall tax is imposed on massive profits. So once the tax is collected, the corporation still has … massive profits. The revenue collected from a windfall tax can be used for programs that reduce the cost of food and housing. But that would be too proactive an approach for a government that prefers the status quo.
Speaking of the good old status quo, in that same interview the PM announced his trust in the Bank of Canada’s approach to curb inflation. You know, the approach that has led to skyrocketing mortgages. Trudeau basically said we should have blind trust in the Bank of Canada even though what it has done, in my opinion, isn’t working.
“In Canada we have strong institutions, and the Bank of Canada acts independently in a way that it thinks is best for Canadians. And we respect that,” Trudeau said.
Going back to my experience in crisis management, when you address those who are looking to you for relief, it’s important to explain in great detail why you are doing what you’re doing. If a previous measure failed, admit it and explain the new plan. But most important are the details: if people believe you have a concise plan, they will trust you more.
Trudeau’s explanations on why he wants to maintain a status quo have none of that. He is giving ridiculous explanations that would only instill confidence in his most partisan of supporters. It’s a poor showing of leadership at a time when people don’t know how they will afford to eat and find a place to live.
Those of us living in Atlantic Canada should be even more concerned. One thing that has not changed since the pandemic is that we typically make less money than our counterparts. In 2019, the average salary in this region fell more than $10,000 below provinces like Ontario.
So it was no surprise when a survey came out in April showing that 64 per cent of Atlantic Canadians will be in dire straits should the BoC raise interest rates again. It also showed that three in ten already can’t pay all their bills with their current income.
This is what a financial crisis looks like folks. Oh, and food banks in our region have also seen double-digit increases in demand.
It’s not just everyday Canadians who are suffering. While major corporations continue to rake in record profits, small businesses struggle to keep their doors open. While oil companies avoid getting fairly taxed, mom-and-pop shops are begging the federal government to expand the deadline to repay their CEBA loans.
Foot traffic has not returned to small retail shops and cafes like many hoped. We once thought our post-pandemic lives would return to the 2019 norms once restrictions lifted. They very much have not. And with people embracing remote work, the downtown businesses that relied on office workers are feeling the pinch on top of their pandemic debt.
Not only should the government do the right thing by extending loan repayments, but a large chunk should also be automatically forgiven. Programs should be launched to help businesses transition to the new realities of a changing world.
But Trudeau and company have acted as though the emergency ended once the worst of Covid was over. It goes to show how out of touch they are with the average Canadian.
Under the laughably titled “Making Life More Affordable” section of their latest budget presentation online, they list their minuscule contributions to this crisis. It’s the very definition of putting lipstick on a pig.
One thing governments love to do is quote a number that looks big on paper but will barely trickle down when spread over an entire population. There are nearly 40 million people living in Canada so federal funding numbers, naturally, always look big (in the hundreds of millions or billions).
The feds announced a grocery rebate worth $2.5 billion, which looks great on paper. Luckily, the government was kind enough to break down how small this will be when spread out over those who qualify.
“The Grocery Rebate will provide eligible couples with two children with up to an extra $467; single Canadians without children with up to an extra $234; and seniors with an extra $225 on average.”
To put into perspective how small this rebate is, I can say that during the pandemic, I received more help than this with buying food. As an Inuit person, I qualified for hundreds of dollars’ worth of grocery gift cards, distributed by Indigenous groups.
The government was so desperate to fill out the “Making Life More Affordable” section of its website it had the nerve to include a measure for “common chargers for electronic devices,” and the right to get said devices repaired instead of buying a new one.
So the next time you’re worried about your kids going hungry, or losing your home from higher mortgages, just look at your mobile phone and be grateful you might be able to get a universal charger soon.
And if anyone had any doubt that Trudeau and his government feel more at home with the rich than the average Canadian, this week’s big news should put any doubt to rest.
While the government offered $2.5 billion to help with grocery expenses, which is a pittance, it is offering a $13-billion subsidy to Volkswagen to build a battery plant in Canada.
But it would be wrong of me to just lambast the Trudeau government for doing nothing to stem this cost-of-living crisis. Provincial governments have collectively shrugged their shoulders as well. These provincial governments have the direct responsibility to provide adequate housing to the population. Although you would be forgiven if you forgot this was provincial jurisdiction
The Progressive Conservative government in Nova Scotia also released its budget this spring. They chose not to spend a dime on building new public housing units, despite acknowledging there is a housing crisis.
Our leaders have shown their true colours when faced with an emergency. They have chosen to duck and cover.