My outlook lately has been so positive lately that’s difficult to put into words.
If you told me six months ago I’d be packed into a convention centre room with several thousand people, where an unapologetic policy nerd delivers lines such as “I’m a pragmatist” and getting roaring applause as the reception… I’d have told you to stop taking the crazy pills.
It’s beyond even just simple cliches like “am I dreaming” because I just could not comprehend the remote possibility of something like this. Not even in the wildest dreams.
Could not imagine that we’d get a Liberal party leader who thinks in terms of market realism but not blind worship of the free market, who is both an insider who understands how the world economy works but also how it has failed people. Someone who is focused on results and not process, someone thoughtful and intelligent. Someone who has said the things that I’ve been screaming into the void for a decade — but saying it better.
And not just that, but that Canadians are responding with passion, engagement, and enthusiasm. Many on the right want their ideas expressed by an adult who has experience and shows true leadership, and isn’t preoccupied with the bully tactics of the American culture war or empty populist slogans.
Many on the left are willing to throw their hat in for a guy who worked for hedge funds and central banks all his life — despite the many severe failings of neoliberalism — because he wants to make markets works for people. It’s absolutely wild seeing a group of left-leaning people cheer on the idea of having the strongest economy in the G7 and expanded free trade within Canada and with Europe, Mexico, and other allies around the world.
And the craziest thing of all is that we’re going to win. By a lot. Because I see the polls showing it, I see people like me out there volunteering. I see my own city’s record-breaking turnout numbers for a by-election that doesn’t even change the balance of power on the council, despite unheard-of queues. People aren’t going to stay home because it’s a blowout, they are gonna be at the polls in droves to register their participation in the process.
And we see real progress outside federal politics too. It’s wonderul to see how a leftist firebrand like Charlie Angus has blown up in on social media and on the success of his cross canada tour. I see folks like Wab Kinew in Manitoba pushing hard on leftist changes and getting a great reception for it. I see Americans on their streets fighting for their country en masse, and folks like AOC and Bernie Sanders rallying huge crowds.
Four months ago I would have given this a probability of 0.0% — but here we are. Smug cynics like me have said things like “this is the worst timeline” and felt like we had no chance against the apathy in the modern age. But we do have a chance.
I’ve always repeated that the cliche of “may you live in interesting times” was actually a curse. But now that the interesting times are here… it feels like a goddamn blessing. I’m here for it.
And the craziest thing of all is that we’re going to win. By a lot.
Even if the polls are declaring this to be so, VOTE! Everyone needs to get out there. Don’t take it for granted, don’t make assumptions based on polls, and don’t be complacent. Make your vote count and never assume victory.
I’m literally out right now putting up signs, been out door knocking and phone banking, and I’m volunteering to get people out to the polls on the long weekend and election day.
Thank you for your efforts. You’re making a positive difference out there. :)
I know this is an overly personal story for the audience of a political discussion group who are essentially strangers. It was originally written for my Facebook but I thought some folks might appreciate it here too.
Could not imagine that we’d get a Liberal party leader who thinks in terms of market realism but not blind worship of the free market, who is both an insider who understands how the world economy works but also how it has failed people. Someone who is focused on results and not process, someone thoughtful and intelligent. Someone who has said the things that I’ve been screaming into the void for a decade — but saying it better.
This is all really important for political insiders to understand. Carney resonates, at least in part, because he’s actually telling us it as it is: Market economies have hurt us, but market economies are our current reality.
Personally, even as someone who does not believe markets are good tools for most things, I cannot avoid the reality that we cannot unplug ourselves from the global markets. We cannot engage economically with Europe, the United States (blech), South America, Asia, or anywhere else without playing the market game.
We are currently trapped.
We have to play the game. If we want to get out of it, we need to carefully position ourselves within it first, and then make reforms internally. And for those who don’t want to get out of it, we should still be doing whatever we can to limit the damage those with market power can do.
This is where the NDP has fallen flat: they make proposals that ignore market realities, knowing that they will never see the light of day, while their meaningful moves clearly acknowledge that we’re beholden to the markets. It makes them look both stupid, and weak. It makes people discouraged and distrustful.
Carney knows what he’s doing. Some of us may not like that he won’t do more than what the leader of a second tier world power is capable of given the current nature of the global economy. Some of us may not like that he may not want to change the nature of the global economy. But even if he did want to, he can’t on his own.
But where he can punch above the weight of the nation is in restructuring our place in the global economy, moving us closer to countries we should probably very much want to be more like, and away from ones we’ve been far too comfortable with for far too long.
Well said.
I believe there’s a really good opportunity presently for the NDP to present a cohesive alternative in their next leadership cycle. Someone authentic who can present an entirely different approach, because those voices are going unheard and it’s a vital part of our future.
My outlook lately has been so positive lately that’s difficult to put into words.
Right there with you… the trusting and uncompromising relationship with our largest trading partner is burning to ash, I’m losing hundreds of dollars of money I’ve invested every day… yet strangely I feel better about most of the world’s outlook (outside the USA) than I did for most of 2024 and early 2025.
…Canadians are responding with passion, engagement, and enthusiasm.
This is the primary thing for me. Watching Americans sleepwalk into Trump 2, forseeing Canadians following like zombies into the same path with Poilievre’s victory nigh-guaranteed, left a deep pit in my stomach.
Despite tough times on the horizon across the world, I feel like I (and by extension we as Canadians) found something that was missing for a long time… identity and purpose as a nation, and connection with each other. There were some reassuring movements towards positive change like the Loblaws boycott (I’m still doing that btw), but the pervasive feeling was “nothing I do will change much against all-powerful forces”.
The massive, overinflated threats and bluster from Trump have awoken something in people here, unity amongst Canadians, despite our differences. We are just a few steps away from uniting with our African, Asian, Australian, European, Latin American and South American brethren who all must be feeling the same way in response to unjustified levies, threats and small bully tactics from the USA. I can’t help but feel we could do something big with this. Patriotism is a helluva drug.
