Justin Trudeau doesn’t understand economics
Justin Trudeau launched his campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada a couple of days ago. This week, I gave an interview to La Presse about Mr. Trudeau’s economic vision – or rather his lack of vision. Here is an English version of the article by Joël-Denis Bellavance published on Friday.
Maxime Bernier goes after Trudeau
October 12, 2012
Joël-Denis Bellavance
La Presse
Justin Trudeau is using “empty slogans” to woo the middle classes, but he has nothing credible to propose to improve their lives from an economic perspective, believes Maxime Bernier, the minister of State for Small Business.
Stephen Harper’s conservatives have until now remained silent on the candidacy of the young MP from Papineau, who wants to lead the Liberal Party of Canada. Mr. Bernier broke that silence by sharply criticizing some passages of the speech delivered by Mr. Trudeau when he launched his campaign in Montreal Tuesday of last week.
In his speech, Mr. Trudeau claimed that the middle class plays a determinant role in economic growth. “We need to learn what we have forgotten. That the key to growth, to opportunity, to progress, is a thriving middle class, he declared. A thriving middle class provides realistic hope and a ladder of opportunity for the less fortunate. A robust market for our businesses.”
“The great economic success stories of the recent past are really stories of middle class growth, he added. China, India, South Korea and Brazil, to name a few, are growing rapidly because they have added hundreds of millions of people to the global middle class.”
Maxime Bernier thinks Mr. Trudeau has it all wrong. “It’s the other way around! It’s not because their middle classes have grown that China and India, among others, have become economic successes. It’s rather because these countries have first experienced strong economic growth that their middle classes have had the chance to develop.”
“And why did they experience strong economic growth? Because over the past couple of decades, their governments have abandoned their old socialist and interventionist policies and have liberalized their economies. They increasingly relied on private enterprise, open markets and a more reasonable tax burden instead of trying to control everything and to stifle innovation with excessive regulation, bureaucratic planning and restrictions on businesses.
In an interview with La Presse, Mr. Bernier said that he did not expect to hear specific proposals from Justin Trudeau right at the start of his campaign. But these words from the aspiring leader about the middle classes convinced him that he had to speak out.
“Justin Trudeau confuses cause and effect in terms of economic development. This is the only economic perspective we find in his campaign launch speech. This does not bode well. You can’t govern a country with empty slogans,” concluded Mr. Bernier.
Sources close to Justin Trudeau did not make much of the conservative minister’s remarks. “Mr. Bernier is ten days late. People are looking for something else than the conservatives’ dirty politics. There’s a reason why Justin’s candidacy is attracting so much interest. And the campaign is only beginning,” said a close collaborator who did not want to be identified.
You can leave a response.
I could not agree more. Trudeau is without any real work experience or even experience in the real world. Having no substance he relies on sound bites, slogans and his looks.
Like it or not Trudeau will be the next PM of this country.
Once again the LPC is looking for a savior, and not addressing the core problems of the party. Thankfully, JT hasn’t a snowballs’ chance of becoming PM.
If the LPC wants to show Canadians they’ve learned from their mistakes, they can begin with an apology to the law-abiding gun owners of Canada for sticking us with the worst legislation in Canadian history: C-68.
After that, they can apologize for the many lies they’ve told to get into office. Do I need to list them all here?
J’aime bien le début et la fin du commentaire du proche collaborateur anonyme de Trudeau :
«M. Bernier est 10 jours en retard.»
et
«Et la campagne ne fait que commencer».
Ça ne fait que commencer… Il n’est donc pas si en retard que ça finalement
!
I got a kick out of john’s assurance (above) that Trudeau will be the next PM.
The only people who “love” this guy are a few moronic quebecers and the news media.
And the conservatives have learned something healthy. They can ignore both and still win an election.
Trudeau will suck hole to Quebec as only a Liberal can and the rest of Canada will hate him for it. It will be a spolied brat politician with an overly large sense of his own entitlement and worth pandering to a province with an overly large sense of entitlement and worth.
john, we do not need another silver spoon socialist from quebec as pm.
Trudeau is vacuous and a pretty face with a nice voice. Just like Obama.
Harper, with his feeble communication skills and feebler policies, cannot hope to pierce the ‘celebrity aura’ Trudeau may very well obtain. As this piece demonstrates, there is one person who can: YOU. You are our only hope Mr. Bernier.
Si monsieur Bernier est 10 jours en retard, monsieur Trudeau est 10 ans en retard. Il n’a pas encore réalisé que le gouvernement chinois a libéralisé son économie alors qu’il n’y avait pas de classe moyenne en Chine.
Mr. bernier, I woulod caution you against listening to the flattering comments of “Cytotoxic – 12:45pm”.
This poster is a well known Liberal who gets off pretending to be a conservative poster in the hope of spreading dissention, creating distrust and generally shit disturbing.
Also, Mr. Bernier if you have any hidden, latent hopes of dethroning Harper and becoming CPC leader as the great leader who will bring Quebec back into the fold you would be well advised to forget them.
Western canadians have had Quebec prime ministers telling them how to think, how to act for many years. For too long we have watched while Quebec fops called us racist hicks and condescendingly assured us that THEY know what is good for us.
If you think you are going to swoop in and grab the leadership tomorrow, you will be meeting the new leader of the Reform Party the day after. Be advised.
What D really means to say is that he/she is a partisan hack who unconditionally loves Harper and hates Quebecois regardless of individual beliefs. He/she is pretending they won’t vote for you if you take over the CPC but he/she will eventually, like all partisan hacks.
You betcha Liberaltox. Keep pretending there buddy. I don’t care what names you call me. The fact remains western Canadians have had Quebec centred agendas rammed down their throats by Quebec prime ministers for almost 45 years straight.
The Liberal party basically gave up on choosing leaders from anywhere OTHER than from Quebec. The…”conservatives” under mul-looney and (snicker) Charest basically said what you did. “Who ELSE will the dumb western hicks vote for?”
They found out.
Now this dip wants to play the game where HE IS THE GREAT HEALER WHO WILL SEAL THE BREACH WITH QUEBEC!! Dum da da DUMMMMM!!!
So, a westerner does all the heavy lifting to win a majority and a Quebecer comes along to accept his rightful place on the throne. Yeah, that figures.
Hey! Guess what? Nobody gives a shit any more whether that stupid-assed, whining, blackmailing welfare bum province stays in Canada anymore anyway! By voting for the Bloc 1st, then the NDP, they have knowingly removed themselves from the decision making process in Canada for years now so fuck ‘em.
My guess is the next time there is a separation referendum in Quebec you expect to see a lot of inflammatory anti Quebec youtube videos out there helping the separatist vote along. — And they will all come from english speaking Canadians. — so STFU ‘kay?
Hope to see you again here in chatham kent msr bernier. Missed your speech last time you were here.
I think your wasting your breath trying to convince today’s liberal how wrong they are. They are full blown socialists now that refuse to acknowledge that identity which is why they get their clock cleaned by the ndp. Oh well,, reminding those slime balls every now and then is fun I guess.
This isn’t your blog D so behave. In addition to bearing low intelligence, you are angry and have poor manners. There’s therapy for that anger.
Unfortunately the Liberals seem intent on trying to out-NDP the NDP and thereby go straight into the history books, but the Trudeau nomination is actually a sensible Hail Mary in lieu of real serious policy. Don’t underestimate him…
To those that feel the need to insult the people of Quebec as if that hurts Trudeau’s candidacy… you are wrong. A significant portion of the Quebec population are NOT fans of the Trudeau legacy or the ascendance of JT. But insulting them is not likely to bring them to the conservative camp. Use your heads before you speak (or type) and attack political positions, not people. Otherwise you end up perpetuating the “intolerant redneck” stereotypes that play only too well to the undecided and centrists. And frankly, we don’t need or want your help.
Si on analyse la question rationnellement, sans partisanerie, M. Trudeau ne dit pas ce que M. Bernier lui fait dire. En effet, les gouvernements de ces pays en croissance ont favorisé le développement de la classe moyenne plutôt que de limiter dans les mains d’une couche restreinte de la population les bénifices de leurs croissances. C’est, si l’on veut, un peu le principe que l’industriel états-unien Ford a appliqué envers ses travailleurs, les rendre suffisamment riches pour qu’ils puissent consommer les produits qu’il fabricait, à savoir les véhicules Ford. Économiquement parlant, il existe une corrélation entre l’enrichissement de la classe moyenne et la croissance du pib d’un pays. Et c’est ce que M. Trudeau a sensiblement dit de manière très maladroite.
Ceci dit, de deux choses l’une: soit que M. Bernier a bien compris les propos de M. Trudeau, soit il ne comprend pas bien les lois économiques. J’opte pour la première option, M. Bernier a bel et bien compris les propos de son adversaire politique mais il est de bonne guerre pour le politicien qu’il est de tirer profit de ce manque de clarté dans les propos de M. Trudeau pour lui faire une jambette politique.
Cytotoxic and D are liberal trolls(crackpots) perpetuating the myth bought be the unwashed in this country that the CPC is a party of bigots and angry old white men who detest Quebec. Nothing could be further from the truth as we are the progressive force in this country most of whom do not belong to any particluar constituency like say state employees.
The CBC and MSM is doing the heavy lifting for Trudeau, and so please relay to Minister Moore who has a love affair with the CBC that we are tired of them posturing for the liberal party and socialist ideals, as we fund their $1 billion annual tab. I am maxxed out on this type of taxation and can barely afford to give to the United Way anymore.
Vous dites que Justin Trudeau ne comprend pas l’économie.
Moi je m’interroge sur le sénat et ses irrégularités.
Votre Premier Ministre Harper lorsqu’il était minoritaire avait promis l’abolition du sénat ( promesse non tenue lorsqu’il fut majoritaire)
Vous devez être conscient que M Harper n’a plus l’appui des canadiens .
Que pensez-vous des réactions des canadiens et comment pensez-vous avoir une meilleure popularité car le parti conservateur est en voie de disparaître.
Comment les anglophones ne parlant pas le français et ne le comprenant pas puissent commenter .