A Rap Against Poiliev

 

I don’t see nearly as many leftist posts on Facebook as I used to. Maybe because the cultural tide is turning; maybe because all my old leftist friends have by now unfriended and blocked me. Probably both.

But I saw this one today:

I don’t see nearly as many leftist posts on Facebook as I used to. Maybe because the cultural tide is turning; maybe because all my old leftist friends have by now unfriended and blocked me. Probably both. 

But I saw this one today:

 

The point being attempted, of course, that the Liberal government is much more distinguished and qualified to be in power than the opposition.

But note the obvious anomaly: they are comparing the opposition leader to the deputy PM, not the PM. Justin Trudeau is significantly less formally qualified for a role in government than Poilievre. B.A., B. Ed., short career as a drama teacher. His primary qualifications are simply that he is handsome and is named Trudeau. Poilievre, by contrast, was in the business, learning the political and government ropes, as assistant to Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper as opposition leaders, as a longtime MP, and as a cabinet minister. 

As for Freeland? It takes good marks, but it also costs a lot of money to go to Harvard. It costs a lot of money to go to Oxford as a foreign student, and you have to be rich to be able to stay out of the workforce for that long. Or long enough to write books, or learn five languages. Mostly what we learn from this is that Freeland was the child of two lawyers, while Poilievre was an orphan adopted by high school teachers. Chrystia Freeland, like Trudeau, was a child of privilege.

The Liberals are the party of the ruling elite, and those who doff the cap to them. The Family Compact, the Chateau Clique, the Laurentian Elite. They respect the credentials that show you are a member of that elite, that you have a pedigree. An Ignatieff, a Turner, a Martin, a Trudeau. Tories, by contrast, respect the common man and the self-made man who rose from obscurity by their own effort.