Trudeau of Canada is pushing politics to the left amid a covid pandemic

It is now shifting its agenda to a higher level, marking one of the biggest left-wing movements in Canadian federal politics since the mid-1960s, say political analysts and historians, when the Liberal government of the day introduced universal health care and a national health plan. pensions.

“We can choose to embrace bold new solutions to the challenges we face and refuse to give up the old ways of thinking,” Mr Trudeau said in August when he began making promises about a more secure social safety net. broad and to a more aggressive political environment. “This is our chance to build a stronger Canada.”

He has appointed a new finance minister, Chrystia Freeland – who led Canada’s negotiations with the Trump administration on a revived North American free trade pact – to oversee the development of this new policy.

Polls show there is an appetite among voters – shaken by the aftermath of the pandemic – for a high-spending interventionist government.

“Canadians feel very insecure right now,” said David Coletto, chief executive of Abacus Data, an Ottawa polling company. “There is already a dominant view – both on the right and on the left – that those with access to resources are doing much better than those struggling to keep their heads above water. This has only been confirmed in the last year. ”

Other analysts say Mr Trudeau’s impetus could gain momentum from the Biden administration, given the US president’s similar agenda focused on the environment and social programs. Mr. Trudeau was the first world leader Mr. Biden called when he moved into the oval office.

President Biden and Mr Trudeau “clearly have a common vision,” said Stewart Perst, a policy lecturer at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. “They can also strengthen each other, especially on the world stage.” To be sure, there will be differences and setbacks, such as President Biden’s move to stop the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline extension.

The Trudeau administration has spent aggressively to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, Canada’s budget balance in 2020 has deteriorated the most among large developed and emerging economies on an adjusted basis. The deficit is set to reach a record 18% of gross domestic product in the fiscal year ended March 31. Most of the cash went to households and businesses.

Mr Trudeau said more government incentives, about 5 per cent of gross domestic product, were under way to start a recovery and to rebuild and expand a social safety net targeting additional day care facilities. better for the elderly, and a national plan to help subsidize drug costs.

“We simply do not intend to return to where we were before Covid-19,” Freeland, who is also deputy prime minister, told reporters last week. “The pandemic has exposed critical gaps in our social security network. And the virus has hit certain sectors, certain groups of people, harder than others – the elderly, women, low-wage workers, young people, people of color, indigenous people. ”

But the push also increases the worry. Robert Asselin, a former senior aide to the Trudeau government, points out that the costs are pushing the budget deficit to half a trillion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $ 390 billion, and said the government is not focused on generating economic growth. long-term .

“It simply came to our notice then. It’s all about redistributing wealth, “said Mr. Asselin, now senior vice president of the Business Council of Canada, a lobby group that represents the country’s executive directors. The approach of the new Biden administration, by comparison, also moves the political agenda to the left, but there are detailed strategies aimed at fueling growth in certain sectors of the economy, he said.

Among the tasks Mr Trudeau has handed over to Finance Minister Freeland, according to a letter issued by Mr Trudeau’s office, presenting his mandate, is the introduction of new taxes aimed at “extreme wealth”. Prior to politics, Ms. Freeland was a journalist and wrote a book about the world’s rich elite and income inequality.

The Trudeau government’s measures come at a time of heightened anticipation that Mr Trudeau will seek elections in the spring to capitalize on strong public support for his pandemic response and try to trade in his minority government for a majority term.

Mr. Trudeau returned to power in the fall of 2019 with a minority mandate, partly punished by a scandal over his office’s role in trying to prosecute an engineering company in Montreal. While Canadian election laws indicate that the next vote is set for October 2023, the prime minister has the authority to dissolve parliament and hold elections at his command.

Mr. Trudeau’s calculation that Canadians want more government seems to be paying off. Polls by Abacus Data and other public opinion firms generally indicate that Mr Trudeau’s liberals have a stable leadership of their biggest rival, the Conservative Party, as most Canadians approve of his government’s response to the pandemic.

The Liberal Party of Canada has been the dominant force in Canadian politics in the country’s 150-year history, in part because of its ability to assess the mood of the public and move the political agenda as appropriate, say political analysts. For example, liberals in the 1990s ruled largely on the right, cutting spending on government programs to deal with budget problems and cutting taxes to defend conservative opponents.

Kathy Brock, a political scientist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, said Mr Trudeau’s left-wing change – which also includes more aggressive measures to combat climate change, such as a proposed sharp carbon tax increase – is meant to persuade progressive voters Who park the votes with the new democratic party on the left or elsewhere. In the last federal election in 2019, about a third of voters voted for progressive parties, while two-thirds voted for either the Liberal or the Conservative Party.

Mr Trudeau downplayed the election talks, saying he was focusing on the pandemic and overseeing vaccination launches.

Ms Brock said the signs indicated a spring vote, but that could be high, especially if vaccination launches in Canada face further delays and lag behind the US, UK and other Group of Seven nations.

A poll released by the Angus Reid Institute on Friday said public approval of the government’s vaccine launch plan fell sharply in January to 45 percent from 58 percent the previous month. However, Shachi Kurl, the institute’s president, said the frustration of vaccination should not yet weigh on Mr Trudeau’s popularity.

Write to Paul Vieira at [email protected]