The reality is that the next federal election will not save us, and regardless of what you think of my writing, you certainly know this deep down. Even a Carney reprieve is unlikely to stave off an even more rabid Conservative party in the next election after this one. But if we aren’t clear-eyed about what is happening, then we sure as hell cannot see where we’re going. And to have a banker, a CEO’s man in the office of Prime Minister, it is going to bring with it a world of challenges that near certainly will pave the road for someone worse than Poilievre.
Carney has a reputation for being a Keynesian, as far as I know, which means we should hope to see a new wave of federal investment in infrastructure and a topping up of social programs. The wave of painting him as “every CEO’s best buddy” seems really weird in that context, because the CEO’s mantra since Regan has been “austerity and tax cuts”.
Like, yes, he’s not going to overthrow the system, but maybe Loretto should spend more time talking smack about the NDP’s choices in the last eight years rather than complaining that the party of the system isn’t radical enough to upend it.
I’m so tired of the leftist obsession with the Liberals, and how our constant attempts to be “right” do more to empower the far right at the expense of the centre than they do to bolster the left in any meaningful way.
It’s like the whole movement is built on being a wet blanket.
My understanding is that Carney is a pragmatist, rather than a Keynesian per se, so he’s not shied away from using Keynesian economics in times of crisis. I think he self-described himself like that in his first post-election speech. So, I would think that if the trade war with the US becomes a crisis, a Carney cabinet would not shy away from government stimulus. But that’s not to say that in “regular times” he would do not operate as a run-of-the-mill neoliberal.