Jesse Kline: Liberals prove they're the 'natural governing party' after all

Like it or not, by winning a fourth-straight election following a disastrous and scandal-plagued 10 years in office, the Liberal party has proven, once again, that it is indeed Canada’s “natural governing party.” Only a party that is the default choice of the Canadian electorate could trail in the polls by 26 percentage points in January and go on to win an election in April. Only a party that engenders blind trust among voters could convince people that the team responsible for Canada’s failing economic health are actually those best suited to fix the problems they created; that a government that’s tried the same things over and over again for the past 10 years is actually the party of change; and that a leader who made a career out of trying to keep fossil fuels in the ground is the guy who’s going to develop Canada’s natural resources. Over the next four years, no one should act surprised when they find makeup on their pork chops. Prime Minister Mark Carney was slathered over the Grits like lipstick on a pig, and judging by the party’s election platform, they’re going to be rolling in the same pile of manure they’ve been in for years. After literally doubling the national debt to deal with the COVID pandemic, the Liberals are now basking in the joy of another crisis — this one caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s upending of the postwar liberal economic order and odd infatuation with his northern neighbours — that was sent to them like manna from heaven. Not only did Trump boost their political fortunes, handing them a fourth-consecutive mandate, he provided them an excuse to continue indulging in pork-barrel politics and centralizing the Canadian economy. Carney didn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s planning on increasing spending by $130 billion over his term in office, or around $32 billion a year. And don’t believe his talk about balancing the budget within three years — that was nothing but smoke and mirrors right from the start. By the Liberals’ own calculations, they will be running a $48-billion budget deficit in four years’ time. The only “balance” will come through Carney’s plan to split the operating budget — which includes government salaries, transfer payments and the cost of servicing the debt — and the capital budget, which accounts for infrastructure spending. Carney never planned on balancing the capital budget, because, as he said, “We’re not spending that amount of money. We’re investing that amount of money.” Except when businesses and individuals invest money, they expect a return on their investment; when government “invests” in a bridge, it doesn’t get any money from it, just the added cost of maintaining it. And given that these “investments” with no rate of return are all being financed through debt that’s already costing us $54 billion a year to service and that will have to be paid by our children and grandchildren, one doesn’t need to be Warren Buffett to see that the analogy doesn’t hold up — or that we’ll pay for these reckless decisions in the long run. But Canada’s Liberals are not the type of people who consider long-term consequences or plan for the future. For them, it’s all about the here and now — what policies will give them an edge among niche segments of the electorate or make them look good in the eyes of their progressive base. To be fair, the same could be said of most politicians in democracies like Canada — our system encourages the pursuit of short-term political gain over long-term strategic planning. But the Liberals have taken this to the extreme over the past decade, enacting a host of measures that clearly worked against our national interests, in the hopes of remaking Canada into some sort of progressive utopia. Only instead of following them into Zion, we wound up falling into the pits of hell. We’re now living in Trudeau’s “post-national state,” and rather than peace and harmony, it’s characterized by antisemitic protests and the Kristallnacht-style destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues. We’ve seen his fabled green jobs, but it’s costing us $44 billion in taxpayer money in order to bribe electric vehicle battery plants to set up shop in Canada. Indeed, despite the best efforts of Carney and Trudeau, global CO2 emissions have increased around eight per cent since the Liberals took office. And all we got for all the carbon taxes and paper straws was an increased dependency on the United States for our energy exports and a sputtering economy that’s ill-suited to withstand the economic punishment Trump is bringing upon us. Somehow, despite all this baggage — not to mention SNC-Lavalin, Blackface, We Charity, foreign interference and the myriad other scandals and failed policies the Liberals are responsible for — the party managed to convince enough voters that it was the best choice to revitalize the economy and deal with Trump to secure another mandate. If that’s not the hallmark of a “natural governing party,” I don’t know what is. National Post jkline@postmedia.com Twitter.com/accessd

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