Sunny days are over – it’s time progressive Canadians acknowledged this angry era

Progressives love a happy warrior.

Can you blame us? Ultimately, progressive politics is an act of hope. It is based on the idea that there is more that unites people than divides them – the idea that we can build a better and fairer world when everyday people work together.

But in 2023 one thing is clear: We no longer live in sunny times.

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In a recent poll, only 30 percent of Canadians felt the country was going in the “right direction.” This is more than just pessimism: it suggests distrust of institutions, divisions in society, and a reduced sense of unity and common purpose.

Inflation continues to weigh on working people’s wallets. Bank of Canada rate hikes attempt to solve inflation at the expense of workers in the form of money-saving measures. Despite this tightening, rent continues to rise, with the country’s median rent up more than 12 percent since December 2021.

And as if that weren’t enough, many economists are forecasting that Canada will enter a recession this year.

Canadians get angry. And they should be.

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In my role as executive director of the Broadbent Institute, I help working-class people prepare to take on leadership roles—whether it’s taking action in their community or organizing for community change.

The tenor of these conversations has changed. Gone are the days when people believed the system was working in their best interests. Today people tell me that our systems are corrupt and must be fought.

We can see this in the success of Pierre Poilevre. The leader of Canada’s Conservative Party has consistently tried to channel Canadians’ feelings of desperation and anger, saying “everything feels broken” and, echoing the Brexiteers’ slogan, consistently vowing to help Canadians who are regain control of their lives.

Left political parties must build a multiracial, working-class coalition for progressive change committed to real, measurable, material improvement in the lives of ordinary people, writes @jenhassum @broadbent #cdnpoli

It’s an attack that has emotional resonance. It’s also an excellent contrast to the Liberals, who, while coming to power with their leader’s empathy, are now more proposing that working people deal with inflation by ending Disney+, a proposal by Treasury Secretary Chrystia Freeland , which she later withdrew.

Of course, Poilievre will do nothing to fix these problems. It’s one thing to know the problems, but quite another to solve them.

For example, he correctly identifies “gatekeepers” in local government as his nemesis – but his proposed reforms target only big cities, while leaving the suburbs in 905 and the Lower Mainland untouched, and making no move to challenge the Chrétien and Christian Liberals Martin era ‘draconian cuts in non-market housing finance. His attacks on British Columbia’s Safe Supply pilot project jeopardize efforts to end the province’s poison drug crisis.

But we can’t ignore the simple fact: he channels Canadian anger. And it works.

Progressive, we need to pull a page out of his comms book. In an angry time, we need to get angry.

Here’s the good news. Although the right is more angry today, historically anger has been a progressive area. The left is founded on a simple truth: working people get ripped off.

It is this discontent that forms the basis of the labor movement, which channels workers’ anger to fight against exploitative bosses. We can look for clues as we work to channel the anger of people today.

The Ontario Federation of Labor (OFL) last month launched a new campaign entitled “Enough is Enough”. In the face of an economy where workers are paying the price for a crisis they did not create, the OFL is calling for real wage increases and an affordable cost of living.

The Canadian Labor Congress has rivaled Poilievre when he protested the Bank of Canada tightening the screws as companies like Loblaws see profits rise during inflation while workers’ wages continue to fall.

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh appears to have taken that lesson to heart, raising awareness of “greedflation” – a way for Canadians to remind themselves that the cost of food and other products has risen due to corporate profits.

Here’s what these campaigns have in common.

Are you angry.

You identify a villain.

Their solutions are market interventions that Poilievre could never co-opt.

And they focus on what brings normal people together — the desire for a better life — rather than what drives them apart.

For too long progressive politics – in this country and elsewhere – have been built on culture wars to create a cross-class majority.

In 2023, this strategy took its course.

In their place must come a new strategy: building a multi-ethnic working-class coalition for progressive change dedicated to real, measurable, material improvement in the lives of ordinary people.

That is the mission of the Broadbent Institute. We will discuss this at the Progress Summit this March in Ottawa.

And at a furious time, when trust is dwindling and people are looking to solutions from charlatans, it’s how we can win back trust – and create a better deal for everyone in this country.

Jen Hassum is executive director of the Broadbent Institute. For the past two decades, Hassum has led teams at the municipal, provincial, and national levels. She is recognized as an innovator in building an online community and mobilizing users to take action in the real world. Most recently, as editor of PressProgress, she helped oversee its growth into an award-winning national news organization read by millions of Canadians. Over the years their work has contributed to historic electoral victories, won new organized jobs and helped achieve important political gains for the working class.

Source: www.nationalobserver.com