November 11, 2019 - Loonie Politics

Now that Andrew Scheer has blown what everyone is belatedly calling a winnable election, it's time for some punch-yourself-in-the-gonads-stupid fantasy casting punditry about who should be taking over his job. We've had calls for the return of the Mulroney dynasty by Liberals in the pages of the Toronto Sun. We've had comparisons between Joe Biden and Peter MacKay that raise more questions about the author's mental state than either MacKay's or Biden's. We've had wishcasting for a Conservative leader from Quebec, which is convenient, as I hear Maxime Bernier has some free time on his hands as of late.

And yet, for all this, nobody has taken the obvious moon shot of calling for someone who has no political experience whatsoever to parachute in and save the CPC from oblivion. Given that the real problem with the CPC is, and always has been, the complete lack of unifying or galvanizing ideas, which stems from the as-yet-unanswered question of why there should be a conservative party in Canada at all, it's amazing that nobody has made an appeal to some clueless celebrity/businessperson who will turn the sleepy world of Canadian politics upside down by virtue of not having had their brain eaten by the talking point generators yet.

So let's get it out of the way now: Keanu Reeves for CPC Leader! Because when your politics is a bad simulacrum of reality, who better to turn to than the guy who starred in the Matrix films?

Unlike Justin Trudeau, who disappointed us by turning out to be a regular old crummy Canadian politician instead of the demigod we felt we were entitled to, Keanu's celebrity shine is brighter than ever. I say that because I saw him on the cover of a magazine while standing in a checkout line, and that's more research than any of these pundits did when they sat down to unleash their misshapen columns on the world. He's an attractive person, who was recently seen dating another attractive person, and therefore must have attractive views, which are by necessity free of obvious hang-ups about marching in Pride parades.

Incidentally, remember that time that Scheer's views on pride parades were the reason why he lost the election? The well-known views he's had for decades that we are suddenly discovering as a nation, possibly because the PMO is directing journalists to ask a lot of questions on the subject? The clumsily articulated, difference-straddling views that he offers up because he knows this entire exercise is a joke but won't say so? I don't know where you were all election long, but we're having A National Moment about the views of a leader who most people had already written off as a complete irrelevant doofus and would certainly never be caught dead voting for. And it's entirely Scheer's own fault, because he the guy who was being mocked with an #Insinscheer hashtag, recall isn't promising to protect LGBTQ Canadians. The fact that most Canadians would turn around, fold their arms indignantly, and refuse to believe anything he says forever doesn't enter into it.

Imagine Canadian journalists asking Keanu about his views on Pride parades, or on any issue at all. He could answer every question from now until forever with "Whoa! The Matrix is totallyâ€¦.whoa! Most excellent!" and the media would just laugh and smile. The fact that Keanu has dual citizenship? A mere trifle! The fact that he doesn't have a university degree? Don't screw this up for us, you nitpicky nerds. Do you want to be the guy who ruined the possibility of Prime Minister John Wick?

As the guy who flipped off the Devil in "Constantine", we know that Keanu is able to stand toe to toe with Donald Trump. He kept a bus from blowing up by responsibly keeping it within the speed limit in "Speed", which means that when he's in Canada's driver's seat, he's unlikely to go too fast or slow. And you just know that he could negotiate a better NAFTA deal than Trudeau, since he played alien ambassador Klaatu in the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still". Yes, yes, he was just acting in these movies, but he's more believable acting than everyone else is in real life!

Photo Credit: The Jakarta Post

Written by Josh Lieblein

It didn't get a lot of attention or notice, but the 2019 federal election was witness to an ideological extinction.

After all, one of the losers in that election was People's Party leader Maxime Bernier, a politician who, for the longest time, was a solitary standard bearer in this country for the ideology of libertarianism, a philosophy which advocates for individual liberty over state coercion, for minimal government over big government, for free market capitalism over socialism.

As a libertarian-leaning person myself, I find the dodo bird status of libertarianism to be a little sad.

Yet, I must also admit that, as philosophy, libertarianism has never really caught on in this country, and given the current political climate in the world, its future seems dimmer than ever.

And it's not hard to see why.

For one thing, many aspects of libertarian thought are a tough political sell; in this day and age when the welfare state has been more or less embedded in our society, it's difficult if not impossible to convince voters that they need less government in their lives instead of more.

Indeed, any politician in Canada running on even a moderate libertarian economic platform injecting market principles in our health care system, cutting government bureaucracy, lessening the power of unions would be vehemently denounced by the media as dangerous radicals promoting a heartless agenda that would condemn the poor and weak to unrelentingly pummelled by capitalism's "invisible hand".

Yes, libertarian arguments might be rational, but elections are won on emotion, not reason. Basically it's hard to distill the teachings of Friedrich Hayek and Adam Smith on a bumper sticker.

This is why we've seen so very few libertarian-style politicians in this country, at least since World War II.

Even former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who once led the pro-free market National Citizens Coalition and who once vigorously promoted many libertarian ideals while outside of partisan politics, noticeably distanced himself from the libertarian movement after he achieved power.

Bernier was the exception; (at least when he wasn't in cabinet) he was consistently an outspoken of proponent of free markets and smaller government, making him the closest thing Canada had to a Ronald Reagan or a Margaret Thatcher.

And when he entered the Conservative Party leadership race in 2016 he did so as the unabashed libertarian candidate, saying, "They can call me a fiscal conservative, they can call me a conservative who believes in freedom, they can call me reasonable libertarian, call me anything you want â€” call me Max, call me Maxime, call me 'Mad Max'".

But it's his libertarianism which likely cost him the leadership, not only were his policies seen as too radical by his even Conservative comrades, but his free market principles led him to oppose Quebec's supply management system angering that province's powerful and influential dairy industry.

At the end of the day, cheese and milk prevailed over freedom and common sense.

This loss perhaps convinced even Bernier that libertarianism was a political dead end because after he formed his own People's Party, he diluted his libertarian principles with populist dogma on issues like immigration.

And yes, unlike libertarianism, populism seems to have a future; so too does socialism.

This is why the real problem for libertarians in Canada isn't the loss of "Mad Max", as a champion, it's that people are losing confidence in the free market system.

The financial crisis of 2008, the seeming willingness of corporations to put profits ahead of their own country's interests (see the NBA controversy over China) the growing and frightening monopoly power of hi-tech capitalist overlords, the emergence of a rich and detached economic elite, all have soured people on capitalism, driving them into the arms of socialists or populists.

So perhaps libertarians should forget about politics and start focussing on the basics, i.e. they need to start reminding people as to why socialism doesn't work and why right-wing populism probably won't work either.

Otherwise libertarians will have to be content with their only real political victory: the legalization of marijuana.

But hey, for many libertarians maybe that's enough.

Photo Credit: Jeff Burney, Loonie Politics

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.

Day: November 11, 2019

Click here for more

Click here for more

loonie politics

premium content