The Liberal government will table its second budget under Prime Minister Mark Carney today.
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government → table → Carney
Today's politicians ignore affordability at their peril
Officially, Mark Carney’s government is saying that the Republicans’ stunning losses in the U.S. midterm elections are the Americans’ own business.
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losses → ignore → elections
But this government also knows that there’s a clear line connecting the midterms to the budget being unveiled in Canada on Thursday — and that’s the affordability crisis.
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that → know → Thursday
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne acknowledged it when he spoke to reporters at a Montreal shoe factory on Wednesday.
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he → acknowledge → Wednesday
Asked to comment on what had happened in the U.S., Champagne kept coming back to affordability.
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Champagne → ask → affordability
“If we go in the streets, it’s the price of rent, it’s the price of food, it’s the price of gas.
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it → go → gas
That’s a reality for Canadians every other day, every week, every month,” Champagne said.
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Champagne → ’ → Canadians
Dominic LeBlanc, the point minister on Canada-U.S. relations, said that while he watched the results with interest, he was more focused on affordability here.
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he → say → affordability
That is actually our focus today and will be the focus tomorrow in the budget.”
What both ministers are saying is that all politicians, both north and south of the Canada-U.S. border, ignore the affordability crisis at their peril.
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politicians → say → peril
Champagne’s chief job in Thursday’s budget is to reassure Canadians that this government gets it.
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government → reassure → it
In a lengthy interview with me in advance of the budget, Champagne was a little more open about how events in the U.S. reverberate in government here.
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events → reverberate → government
He talked about how people see events unrolling on their TV screens and then immediately see the results at the gas pump or the grocery store.
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events → talk → pump
Back in the spring, when the government put out its economic update, it also floated a couple of scenarios for its fiscal outlook, acknowledging Canada’s economy was being shaped by forces not entirely within its control.
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economy → put → control
The more optimistic one was a forecast in which Middle East turmoil drives global demand for Canadian energy and investment flows in.
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investment → drive → energy
In the less optimistic one, the same turmoil disrupts supply chains and weighs on growth.
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turmoil → disrupt → growth
The budget on Thursday will be the first real accounting of which world Canada is actually living in.
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Canada → live → world
When I asked Champagne which scenario was closer to what we’d see in the budget, he didn’t entirely answer the question, but noted, “The level of change has been accelerated.”
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level → ask → change
It will be interesting to see how much the budget has been influenced by the disintegrating Canada-U.S. relationship — a lot of it would have been written in the shadow of the breakdown in trade talks in August.
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lot → see → August
If there is any flutter of optimism after the trouncing of Trump’s Republicans on Tuesday, that’s unlikely to be in the actual budget.
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that → be → budget
Champagne has said it will go heavy on themes of Canadian identity and culture, presumably seizing on the surge of patriotism that Trump has inspired in this country.
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Trump → say → country
He hinted broadly about support for artists and culture.
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He → hint → artists
“When the world is changing at speed, it’s grounding to go back and say, ‘This is who we are as Canadians,’” he said.
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he → change → Canadians
When I pointed out that some artists are experiencing affordability issues too, Champagne said that’s been the case for a while now.
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that → point → while
But the finance minister clearly wanted to flag that the government wants to do something with this budget to help people tell those stories.
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people → want → stories
In the interview, Champagne kept circling around to talk of “megatrends” — how Canada is experiencing the same kinds of uncertainty and forces that are being felt around the planet.
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that → circle → planet
“One thing that doesn’t lie is megatrends,” he says, in what was likely a preview of the scene-setting he wants to do for the budget.
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he → lie → budget
He said this is frequently brought up in meetings with his international counterparts.
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this → say → counterparts
“It’s the speed of transmission from global events to pocketbook issues.”
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It → ’ → issues
Donald Trump, in his own way, confirmed that reality too when he was conceding the Republicans’ defeat in the immediate aftermath of the midterm results.
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he → confirm → results
But he also said he had no regrets.
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he → say → regrets
“I don’t think about it.
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I → think → it
I did the right thing.
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I → do → thing
I would have done it again,” he said.
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he → do → it
Vice-President JD Vance echoed this sentiment in a lengthy social media post: “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so.
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losing → echo → years
Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay.
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it → argue → ?
Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.
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that → agree → ?
The budget here isn’t facing the reckoning that came for the Republicans this week, but its challenge will be to grapple with what Trump failed to grasp — that we’re living in times where every event, large and small, is becoming an affordability issue.
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event → face → times
Champagne told me he gets it.
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he → tell → it
He said what he’s heard from people in advance of the budget is, “Do everything you can to just help me out now.”
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you → say → me
Help with cost of living expected to be Mark Carney's top priority in federal budget
OTTAWA — Having just seen, in the U.S. midterm elections, the political price of a public struggling with the cost of living, the Carney government is expected to table an annual budget Thursday that seeks to reassure Canadians that Ottawa is here to help.
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Ottawa → expect → Canadians
…and 329 more, not listed.
The Aporia
