On the mood of Canadians and voters in other Western nations:
It really sucks right now. Like, everything sucks for people, even in Canada. We’re supposed to be polite and nice, but, man, people are mad. People are mad at governments because things aren’t going all that well and people are worried. So, yeah, it’s a tough time.
We know things are going to start getting better. Inflation is coming down. We think interest rates are going to start coming down probably middle of next year. We’re launching massive housing investments. Hopefully, people are going to start seeing things get better.
On the political consequences of that mood:
People are anxious because that promise of progress no longer seems to hold. A sense of optimism is gone right now — or it’s at least really strained. There are challenges that people are facing that are undermining our sense that our institutions, that our democracies are actually functioning well.
They’re falling into the trap that there are simple, easy answers that fit on a bumper sticker or in a TikTok video for any and all of these questions. And that’s where the populism comes through and the anti-enlightenment mistrust of experts and facts and science that is running rampant in aggressively populist circles. But it is a very compelling narrative to turn to. When you can’t put food on the table, when you’re scared to walk down the street, you’re more likely to vote for a strongman that says, ‘Everything’s going to be OK, even if I’m going to take away some of your freedoms or some of your rights.’
That’s the thing that worries me.
The way to solve that isn’t to come out with better slogans. It’s to actually solve the challenge of people being optimistic about the future and feeling: Oh, there is a path for me to be successful.
You’re paying good money for an office for your employee. Technically you pay for two offices – one at home and one in Ottawa. Have you visited in person? As silly as it may seem, the boss showing his face tends to carry more weight than the boss who messages an employee from the golf course. The workers are only human at the end of the day.
I live in a rural area. My MP’s office is an hour away. I’m not taking two+ hours out of my workday to be told to come back later.
That’s fine, of course. The choice is yours. But you can’t reasonably expect results from your workers when you don’t care enough about your organization to pay attention your employees.
Nobody ever said democracy was easy.