Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is again urging the prime minister to sign a tariff-free trade deal with the United States, following a video by Mark Carney Sunday calling Canada’s former strength, built on its bond with America, a “weakness” that must be corrected.
He gets insulted a lot because he fails to offer an alternative to what the government is doing that makes sense in view of the current state of the world. His alternative this time seems to be, “bow to the whims of a foreign madman,” which . . . just no.
Yes, a large part of his job involves disagreeing with the government, but he tends to do it with all of the depth of a toddler who’s just learned the meaning of the word “no”. Suggesting good alternatives is also part of the job, and he’s terrible at that—often he suggests nothing at all, and many of the suggestions he does make are obviously bad (or obviously unpopular, which for his purposes amounts to the same thing). During the last election, he didn’t seem to have much of a policy platform beyond “Liberals bad!”, and seemed to be doing his damndest to avoid being asked questions. In addition, he’s clearly not easy to get along with even for members of his own party, or they wouldn’t be fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.
Just being marginally civil about his “no” isn’t enough.
He gets insulted a lot because he fails to offer an alternative to what the government is doing that makes sense in view of the current state of the world. His alternative this time seems to be, “bow to the whims of a foreign madman,” which . . . just no.
Yes, a large part of his job involves disagreeing with the government, but he tends to do it with all of the depth of a toddler who’s just learned the meaning of the word “no”. Suggesting good alternatives is also part of the job, and he’s terrible at that—often he suggests nothing at all, and many of the suggestions he does make are obviously bad (or obviously unpopular, which for his purposes amounts to the same thing). During the last election, he didn’t seem to have much of a policy platform beyond “Liberals bad!”, and seemed to be doing his damndest to avoid being asked questions. In addition, he’s clearly not easy to get along with even for members of his own party, or they wouldn’t be fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.
Just being marginally civil about his “no” isn’t enough.