Matthew Lau: Polls suggest Trudeau Liberals are hitting the brick wall of reality

financialpost.com:

The declining political fortunes of the federal Liberal party — the latest polls suggest they trail the Conservatives by as much as 10 points — is good news. It suggests progressive fantasies about government spending, regulatory initiatives, social engineering and climate policy have finally run into the brick wall of reality. Slamming into a wall is of course painful, so the Liberals are doing their best to carry on denying reality. Their effort to do so is unlikely to continue fooling Canadians, however.

Under the guise of increasing affordability, the Liberals have pumped money into Canadians’ bank accounts with numerous programs and handouts in recent years. But the financial relief the money was supposed to provide has proved to be a mirage. Far from increasing prosperity, bigger government has left the Canadian economy in a growth crisis. All that’s left to show for the hundreds of billions of dollars in excess spending is more debt, higher interest payments and a in affordability resulting from high inflation. Home ownership is out of reach for large segments of the population and the general consumer price level is today nine per cent higher than it would have been if inflation had continued at its pre-2021 pace.

A defining initiative of the current Liberal government is its economy-altering climate program, which it claims is a win-win for the economy and the environment. The program includes an annually escalating carbon tax, inefficient regulation, bans on single-use plastics, over $120 billion in spending since 2015, plus billions more this year in subsidies for plants to build batteries for electric vehicles. This top-down economic management supposedly reduces global warming and increases prosperity by