[SebC]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Okay I read your post summary. I address each item.

Thanks! It's nice when people actually have a good faith interest in what you post (even if only to debate) and don't just ignore the strongest arguments against them.

Originally Posted by Goriders

CBC funding. Media should be arms length from government. Their job is to hold government accountable. Government funded media isn’t going to do that. It’s a conflict of interest that doesn’t benefit the country. Grants for content is different. But paying salaries isn’t a good idea in my mind.

CBC is "arms length" (per Wikipedia). They are state-funded but not state media. I don't think it's reasonable to look at CBC in a vacuum. You have to look at its role in the media landscape. It offers an alternative to Bell, Rogers, Corus (Shaw), and Quebecor, all of whom exert influence on the journalism their news channels produce to favour the ultra-wealthy.

Originally Posted by Goriders

WEF attendance. Don’t see what value this really adds to Canada. Policy making should happen within our borders. It shouldn’t be molded externally. Maybe influenced by global trends such as trade strategies. But Canadians should be forming their own policies to benefit Canadians.

Canada, again, does not exist in a vacuum. The WEF is a place where leaders can exchange ideas, learn best practices from each other, and coordinate mutually-beneficial projects. Of course, as a sovereign nation we should govern ourselves, and we do. But it is in our interest to seek agreements with partner nations for things like trade, as you wisely pointed out.

Originally Posted by Goriders

Carbon tax. Why would you have any problems with paying less taxes. This is one I don’t understand. Do you think the government does a better job spending you money than you do. It’s becoming pretty obvious that they don’t.

There are many things the government does do a better job buying than I do. Security for example, I'm not going to buy my own military. Healthcare. Education. Roads. Public transport. And those things need to be funded with taxes. As far as taxes go a tax on pollution is one of the best possible taxes we can have, especially since as an individual I get a rebate on my carbon tax expenditures. And, as I said, if we don't collect carbon tax ourselves, there's a good chance other countries will impose one on our exports and instead of us getting the revenue, they would.

Originally Posted by Goriders

Spending under control. Once again. It’s fairly obvious that governments are one of the least fiscally responsible entities. Why do they not have to follow general guidelines of budgeting restraint like every other canadian? What happens to regular people if they blow through their budgets and generate a ton of debt. How is it any different. The debt they are generating has to get paid back by the citizens at some point. There are consequences to debt.

Governments are different from individuals. They have the lowest borrowing costs, so have the most reason to borrow. If a government can borrow to prevent their citizens from having to borrow at higher interest, that's a net benefit (e.g. government borrowing to support CERB is far better for citizens than citizens racking up debt as individuals).

I do agree that debt has consequences. This is why I strongly opposed Harper using the surplus he was given to overstimulate the already hot economy he started with. He should've been paying down debt instead of cutting GST.

Originally Posted by Goriders

Native concerns. I didn’t quite understand what you were getting at with this one.

It's not a real concern, but a hypothetical to illustrate where things might go if the alt right gets catered to.

I will note that you didn't address my comments about the Ottawa COVID convoy or anti-trans policy.

Originally Posted by Goriders

Alt right comments. I think eventually the left vs right compartmentalization needs to subside and voters need to vote for the best leaders. Canada is very light on true leaders in it’s levels of government right now. Municipally, provincially and especially federally. We are all paying a price for that now. The left vs right infighting is just noise. It doesn’t add any value.

And here you attempt to handwave away the very real concerns about the alt right and the policies that would come from appeasing them as "noise" and "infighting", but I don't accept that. Part of being the best leader is rejecting non-factual conspiracy nutjobs, putting the best interest of the nation before what's politically convenient (i.e. vaccination). Poillievre is not a good leader specifically because of how he interacts with the alt right. It is not noise, it is core to question of whether or not he is a good leader. (In fact, they are leading him, so he's not a leader at all in this context.) An anti-science, anti-vaxxer supporter in the PM chair means some Canadians who otherwise wouldn't will die. Evidence-based policy saves lives, and it's better policy. Poillievre chooses to chase the alt right's votes instead.