Support for Trudeau remains high

[ferri]

[hobbyguy]

Actually GB, what I was trying to point out was that most of what seems to catch the public's attention, at least in social media terms, tends to be petty and flashy, but not really at the heart of what a government is doing.

The overall economic policy that JT and the Liberals have been employing is working at returning the economy to a better equilibrium. That isn't very "sexy", but it is happening. The clearest evidence that economic equilibrium is getting better is the further tightening of mortgage rules (through the OSFI) I mentioned seems have caught zero of the public's attention (even through it will have effects on their abilities to purchase homes, both positive and negative) - and the raising of interest rates. IF the OSFI implied target of 2% higher interest rates can be implemented, then we can say that the economy will finally have achieved a reasonable equilibrium.

The downside of the economic strategy that JT and crew are using is that it does have a higher risk of small scale partial fluff-ups. E.g. infrastructure spending that builds "bridges to nowhere" etc. However, as whole, it seems to be succeeding. But not in a "sexy" way, so that gets ignored.

I mean, what newspaper is going to headline a rule change on mortgages by the OSFI? The public goes "who-wha?" and moves on to the story about a celebrity who just got arrested for DUI. Stories about the OSFI and how coupling fiscal and monetary policy are economic force multipliers just won't sell very many papers.

In the end, stories like that one about the OSFI are just never going to get much traction. The overall strategy will never get much traction as a news story either, but if it succeeds, it will get a lot of traction where it counts - at the ballot box. There are still a lot of voters who will look at an incumbent government and say, "Am I better off than I was 4 years ago?".

The caveat to that is that economic improvements have a cap, both in terms of achievement (we can't all be multimillionaires) and in terms of political importance. IF you have a good job, and have had it for a while, and the prospects for your job are good, then your attention turns elsewhere (which is the mistake the BC Liberals made and realized too late).

Economic improvements could help the Liberals this go 'round (subject to Trump throwing a stick in the spokes - but I don't think Canadians would blame JT for that). BUT, the Liberals will have to think and plan ahead beyond that, and be a step ahead on the other issues that matter to Canadians - like Health Care, Housing, and unifying FNs into the country's cultural matrix. That last one is an evolution, and will come - as I believe that by and large Canadians are ready for it, step by step. I think Jane Philpott did some very good work on the health care file, but more needs to be done. Rona Ambrose made a start toward better health care with the Naylor report, but it never went anywhere (worth reading, but dry as popcorn). Housing affordability is linked, in part, to the mortgage rules and interest rate questions, but somehow the message has to get across to metropolitan municipal governments that they have to move to rentals as a building strategy to maintain affordability.

[JLives]

why not? Trudeau 2.0 has been a giant embarrassment and a complete disaster.

No. He hasn't. Take some pride in your country. He's made good decisions and bad ones. He's a human being. Why can't we just discuss issues without going to hyperbolic extremes like this?

Harper wasn't a bad guy. He did a lot of good for our country. I disagree with some of his policies but I never saw him as a horrible person.

Can we check ourselves and not go down the road we see our neighbours going down right now? We can do better.

[The Green Barbarian]

No. He hasn't.

A yeah, he has.

Take some pride in your country.

what the hell is this supposed to mean? And I find this comment even more over-whelmingly silly than normal because it's coming from someone who sanctimoniously whines on about how evil borders are in every discussion about illegal immigrants. You want to virtue-signal constantly about how illegal immigrants shouldn't be blocked by "artificial" borders, and now you want to pull a pride guilt-trip about Canada? Hypocrite much?

He's made good decisions and bad ones.

What good decisions were those? I am honestly racking my brain and can't find any. I can think of a lot of stupid decisions applauded by leftist automatons, but that's about it.

He's a human being. Why can't we just discuss issues without going to hyperbolic extremes like this?

What hyperbolic extremes? In any event, the Left has reaped what it has sown. As we saw with Harper (and I respect that you called him a "good guy". I am sure on a lot of levels Justin is a "good guy" too), every single thing he did was screamed about in agony (maybe not by you). Most of it was beyond hyperbolic extremes. Case in point all of the idiots crying about how Harper won with only 40% of the popular vote, but who are all mum when Justin won with the same margin. Total hypocrites. But in any event, sure, let's try and have some civil discourse. Fine by me. It would be nice if we could keep that going when Scheer wins in 2019.

[Rwede]

Many people who voted for the Trudeau Liberals have buyer's remorse: poll

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It seems a large number of voters who cast their ballot for the Trudeau Liberals in the 2015 federal election are regretting their choice.

More than a thousand people took part in an online poll exclusive to Maclean’s last week.

Mario Canseco with Insights West says 24 per cent of people who say they voted Liberal in the last election now regret it. “You have essentially one out of four voters for the Liberal party having buyer’s remorse. Most of them are in Quebec.”


http://www.news1130.com/2017/10/30/trud ... s-remorse/


The other 3/4ths are still stoned.

[hobbyguy]

^^ polls are sometimes confusing, especially that one. Note that the biggest chunk were in Quebec, but in the recent by-election the Liberals scored an upset victory in Quebec.

I'd be willing to bet that some of the Liberal voters in the Vancouver/Victoria complex are on the "remorse" list. Mostly because they disagree with the decision (in my view the correct one) to approve the TMX pipeline.

The difficulty in interpreting these things can be considerable. For example, I considered voting Green in the provincial election because they had some good policies and weren't the stupid NDP. I didn't, but they almost had me, and might have after 4 more years of site C construction. (But never now, because a vote for the Greens = a vote for the stupid NDP.). IF I had been polled at the time, I might have said "leaning Green", but didn't vote that way when push comes to shove.

The CPC has been having fun pushing the ethics issue, and that has an effect, even though it was recommended to Harper and the CPC that they change that clause years ago - and they didn't. Hmmm... wonder why? Of course many folks won't know that. Or actually care, as the rules do need a fix.