opinionJustin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre must cease insulting one another John IbbitsonJanuary 26, 2023

We wish to blame social media or pandemic stress or financial hardship for what looks like rising political polarization. However our leaders fan the flames.

Which is why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre ought to cease insulting one another.

Mr. Trudeau began the newest dust-up. When Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star requested the Prime Minister in an interview why he thought so many individuals disliked him, he began out sounding sympathetic, if condescending, to those that carry flags bearing an epithet together with his title.

“They might assume it’s about me, however it’s not about me,” he replied. “It’s about the truth that the world is altering in actually unpredictable and generally scary ways in which individuals don’t really feel they’re a part of.”

However then he began slagging Mr. Poilievre.

“He’s saying all the things’s damaged,” Mr. Trudeau stated. “He’s enjoying and preying on the sorts of anger and anxieties about some Canada that was once – the place males have been males and white males dominated.”

The Prime Minister accused the Chief of the Official Opposition of pandering to sexists and racists. Sunny methods.

Mr. Poilievre was fast to up the ante. “This from a man who dressed up in racist costumes so many instances he can’t even keep in mind all of them,” he declared in a video addressed to Mr. Trudeau. He additionally referenced the resignation of Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s first Indigenous attorney-general, and others from cupboard and caucus. “That’s your ugly, racist previous.”

That is the type of no-holds-barred rhetoric you’d count on in a polity so deeply divided that neither facet is ready to converse to the opposite, akin to is occurring, tragically, between Democrats and Republicans in the US.

However there is no such thing as a severe ideological gulf between federal Conservatives and Liberals in Canada. The so-called polarization is fully rhetorical. Think about:

Neither Mr. Trudeau nor Mr. Poilievre has condemned provincial governments that make use of better use of the personal sector in delivering publicly funded well being care. Each appear superb with it.

For greater than seven years, Trudeau governments have sought to extend help and independence for First Nations. On Tuesday, in certainly one of his first main coverage initiatives, Mr. Poilievre launched consultations with Indigenous teams with a view to funneling federal resource-tax revenues on to Indigenous communities.

Each the Conservatives and the Liberals help excessive ranges of immigration to offset societal ageing.

The Liberal authorities is spending billions of {dollars} in supporting Ukraine’s efforts to withstand the Russian invasion. Mr. Poilievre’s solely criticism has been that the help is “too little, too late.”

Mr. Poilievre says he would hearth Tiff Macklem, the Governor of the Financial institution of Canada. However I detect no elementary variations in how a Conservative authorities would strategy financial coverage.

The place the 2 sides differ, the query is usually certainly one of diploma. The Conservatives imagine the Liberals have moved too aggressively in banning sure varieties of weapons, and so they could also be proper, for the reason that Liberals seem like backtracking within the face of opposition from hunters and farmers, Indigenous teams and NDP MPs from rural ridings.

A Poilievre authorities would cut back each program spending and taxes. However any modifications would possible be modest. Conservative governments typically don’t roll again social applications launched by Liberal governments, simply as Liberal governments typically don’t elevate taxes lowered by Conservative governments.

Mr. Poilievre would cancel the federal carbon tax. However he does settle for the fact of worldwide warming and the necessity to decrease emissions. He has promised to launch an environmental platform “effectively earlier than the following election.”

Republicans and Democrats profoundly disagree on the correct to an abortion, on the rights of sexual and gender minorities, on gun rights, on voting rights, on world warming. They disagree so strongly that it’s a surprise the nation holds itself collectively. Britain and lots of different European international locations additionally wrestle with sharp ideological divides.

However the social and financial consensus in Canada is broad and deep. Which makes it all of the extra dismaying that the leaders of the 2 largest nationwide events speak about one another the way in which they do. We’re simply not that polarized, although we may develop into so if our political leaders don’t tone issues down.