Canada

Yes I agree. I think the media/propaganda game of the conservatives was just better on this issue.

The liberals overestimate how much normal people pay attention and feel their policies will speak for themselves. No you need to repeat it on a never ending loop and make it very very simple for people to understand. They started doing this but only after they let the conservatives set the tone and message - by then people weren’t listening. I also blame our absolutely toothless legacy media. The fact that they let Pierre talk about how Carney was “unelected” without IMMEDIATELY fact checking that, preferably TO HIS FACE, is disgraceful. The fact that they let him continue to lie and gaslight us around his security clearance is cowardice.

Similar to how Poilievre’s trying to repaint his relationship with MAGA - people just don’t believe him and I don’t think there’s anything he can do to change that. And they shouldn’t believe him - he’s a twat.

The liberals were just really bad at operationalizing their policies. Too much thinking and talking - not enough doing.

That said, I cannot overstate how misinformed and disengaged our electorate has been. I had to push my friends to go vote in Ontario’s provincial election - they didn’t know it was happening, didn’t know where to vote, didn’t know what they needed to vote, and thought THEY WEREN’T ALLOWED TO VOTE because they hadn’t received their voter card in time.

I do think we as a society need to give people more permission to try things out and get things wrong without absolutely excoriating them, however. Decriminalization in BC comes to mind.

I know.

I know we can walk and chew gum at the same time and hold the government to account on climate measures.

Big caveat - it seems pretty tone deaf at the moment relative to the threats on our sovereignty.

I don’t see a path for Carney to be elected without getting rid of the tax, at least momentarily.

We do need to realize that not everyone is aligned with Stephen Guilbault on this issue. My big gripe is that there’s always been a lot of analysis and policy and talk but no actual plan to sell to the electorate in a way that will improve their lives without costing them exorbitant amounts of money.

For example, the electric car 2030 push. Seems good on paper. But, I frequently drive 5-6 hours to northern Ontario. No electric car is going to make it there without having to stop to charge for HOURS. So I’m doubling my travel time for what? A good quality EV is 30k+. Who has that kind of money for a product that is going to be less convenient? The solution would be to improve rail service and mass transport but have there been ANY plans to do that? No. This is why people get pissed off about climate policies. Because it’s a huge inconvenience and will massively disrupt their lives. Instead of the government doing things that actually help people in the face of this, we get paltry rebates and almost no supporting infrastructure.

I’m incredibly pro- climate measures but the government has to make things easier for people. The population is fucking tired and not receptive to more inconveniences that make their lives harder. The government needs to solve for that to get people onboard. I’m not talking discounts or rebates I’m talking FREE - free solar panels, free heat pumps. Cheap and affordable public long distance transit. The passenger train goes to my destination ONE time every week. That’s simply not enough. Requiring automakers to standardize charging inputs and somehow speeding up the charging. Charging stations at every gas station, yes, even in rural areas. It has to be better, cheaper, and more convenient than the status quo to get Canadians onboard.

Everything points to a right-wing pivot for the liberals

The last Liberal government bought a $5B oil pipeline. This smells more like honesty and pragmatism than any kind of actual ideological pivot.

Yeah, it's happening because it's what the voters want.

Also see: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, "split the vote", or strategic vote.