It is hard to believe that MP Pierre Poilievre has made it as far as he has. His summer travels seem to be a cross between Adolph Hitler’s rants in Bavarian beer halls and Donald Trump’s preaching to the ignorant in America. What we are hearing is lies, lies and more lies. I apologize for laughing when I first heard of Poilievre’s attack on the World Economic Forum (WEF). I could not imagine a less dangerous organization.
The WEF is an opportunity for the rich and famous of the world to get together and pontificate. It can be quite harmless. Demonizing the WEF makes no sense. If Mr. Poilievre needs some organization to demonize, he should look to the Fraser Institute. The Fraser Institute is the antithesis of the WEF. The WEF is looking for ideas. The Fraser Institute pays academics to write opinions that favour the politically right-wing tenets of the Fraser Institute.
In demonizing the WEF, Poilievre is counting on his audience not to do their own research and find that WEF ideas are usually not that threatening. And he certainly is not interested in discussing it with a reporter who might have a university education. Mr. Poilievre finds it more rewarding to concentrate on building support among the foolish and the uneducated.
One of his more interesting scare tactics at the moment is that Justin Trudeau is planning a digital identification (ID) for all Canadians. I can hardly think of any reason to bother anyone with that idea when it has already been accomplished with your social insurance number.
Some academics consider this to just be a phase Poilievre is going through on his determined march on the prime minister’s office. They think he will pivot once in power. I would question that when you consider how much he is like the former American president Donald Trump. Mr. Trump never let truth stand in his way.
Neither would the truth stand in the way, once Poilievre was in power. If his lies and slurs get him that far, he would have little reason to stop. As Mr. Trump has shown, there is little concern for the fact that power corrupts. And he has also proved that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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