Item: Older women love Carney, deplore Poilievre.
"Oh, I'll be voting for Carney. He was Governor of the Bank of Canada, you know."
Well, yes he was and daily at his campaign events, he continues to charm us all with that banker charisma.
My interlocutor is a cheerful woman of my own pensionable age. Thirty five years a teacher, she is a good soul. If you had just moved in next door to her, she'd be the first to drop off a casserole.
"I'm voting for Carney."
"Well actually, you'll vote for your local candidate. Umm, what riding are you in?"
"I'm not sure. But I like Carney. He has a good resume, you know. He was a banker."
"So you said. But how do you feel about the fact that he wants to choke our oil industry? Or that as a professed church-going Catholic, he won't condemn abortion? That he wants to bring back the Online Harms Act? Didn't you see Minority Report? He's in thick with people who don't like people having too much freedom to travel or eat beef. He's all about making you use less electricity by making it more expensive."
"I wouldn't know about any of that. But you know, he seems steady. Makes me feel safe. He's not going to change things. By the way, he did just cancel the carbon tax. Didn't he?"
"That was Pierre Poilievre's idea. Carney just stole his campaign promise."
"Oh I don't like Poilievre. He's rude to reporters."
"So is Mr. Carney."
"Whatever. I don't know much about politics, but yes, of course I'll vote."
"I was afraid of that..."
There seemed little point in mentioning that in addition to dumping the carbon tax, the Liberal signature save-the-world-at-Canada's-expense policy for nine years, Carney had also appropriated Poilievre's other promises on capital gains and tax cuts, his plans to demolish barriers to inter-provincial trade and to establish pre-approved corridors for major infrastructure projects.
She just felt sorry for reporters. And she's anxious about her RIFF. Which I am too, but oh boy! Carney is not the answer. (On Instagram, Peterborough-Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri makes the case brilliantly.)
But according to the expert analysis, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is indeed unpopular with older white women.
Men of all ages like him of course and admire his scrappiness. Indeed, to our surprise during our recent travels around Alabama, my wife and I (she being a blessed outlier in her generation, thank heavens,) several times ran into 'dudes' who knew all about how can Mr. Poilievre chew on an apple and a reporter at the same time. Even in Mexico, he has a following, we learned.
But the very thing that makes him appealing to men everywhere, apparently puts off older women. (Not so much the young.)
What's sad for me personally, is that this lady is from the demographic among whom I found dates 50 years ago.
When did that bold, adventurous cadre of young women lose the plot? In the '70s they would come camping in the Yukon, shoot the rapids, then strap on a backpack and travel Europe on $5 a day. (Seriously, that was possible, then.) How did they become un-bold? Now, they apparently want safety and security at all costs, and here’s what’s alarming, like my friend above, they don't — and won’t — read the small print.
For, if security is really all they want, why would they turn for it to Mark Carney?
Mr. Carney stood beside Justin Trudeau for years, advising, guiding and encouraging as Mr. Trudeau created a new class of homeless young people, chased away hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign and domestic investment, sparked massive inflation and tripled the price of butter. And now it's him who's leading the party? And they want more of that?
A party by the way, that seems to see itself as Moses leading a disciplined and submissive people through a wilderness and demanding in return our grateful compliance… Give these people another chance, and they’ll reinvent the Soviet Union.
I mention all this. I add that freedom matters. But there, Pierre seems too chippy and Mr. Carney the banker seems safe, especially if your RRIF is under water.
Alas, things are not what they seem. (And speaking of my 1970s experiences, perhaps they never were.)
In all seriousness however, more banking by Carney is not the answer to the difficulties arising from Mr. Trudeau following his advice all these years.
What is the answer? Get informed before you vote.
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