Thinking and talking big

Both are good ideas. But, whatever benefit they bring, Canada may not be visible to most people by the 2019 election. Given the perpetually anemic economic growth the country is going through, the Liberals are taking some risk.

Ottawa hasn’t seen a government willing to think beyond the next election for a while now. In fact, there hasn’t been a government in Ottawa like this since the regime of Trudeau the Elder in the early 1980s, with its preoccupation with megaprojects and spending.

Obviously, the current Trudeau government believes it has enough political capital after a year in office to think long-term – as in legacy. Political capital is something to be used while in power. A government reluctant to use it will lose it. Ask the previous, Conservative government.

With the Opposition parties in disarray and likely to continue that way for the balance of the year, taking calculated risks this early in their mandate makes sense for the Liberals so that voters will have time before the next election to forget things that don’t go as expected. This is especially true when you are forecasting $31.8 billion more in deficits over five years than what was forecast in last March’s budget.

These announcements also are part of a pattern of change. The previous government liked to think and talk short-term with its endless tough-on-crime initiatives, defences against terrorism and union bashing. But beyond that government’s free trade agreements, there were few big strategies and initiatives for the future.

As a result, the media was full of stories about the Conservatives’ unwillingness to embrace change or preoccupation with pleasing its reactionary base of support. This is likely why that government began draining its political capital soon after winning its one and only majority in the 2011 election.

These days, the media is busy talking about the Liberals’ initiatives and whether they will be successful. This probably will work in the government’s favour because these stories will take attention away from the Conservatives’ leadership race and whatever else the Opposition says and does.

The Liberals’ “big thinking” agenda also is likely to help the government ward off any fallout from the current nihilism and toxicity plaguing U.S. politics. The results of the recent U.S. election won’t mean an end to the destructive mood of the American electorate.

Canada’s federal government will want to make sure the mood of despair south of the border does not infest the electorate here. Expect a lot of theatrics in our government’s policy initiatives to make sure Canadians feel optimistic about the future lest they fall into the despair that is gripping the U.S.

Because of the Liberals’ fixation with far-reaching policy, businesses planning to lobby the government in the coming months should take great pains to frame all of their requests within the government’s Big Think policies.

Of course, there will be speed bumps on the way, such as the recent access-for- money controversy involving the Liberals’ archaic fundraising tactic of charging business $1,500 a plate to nosh with Morneau.

Sloppiness like this may not hurt the Liberals now. But political peccadilloes like this will hurt a government if they are allowed to pile up. Again, ask the previous government.

At some point, this government, like all governments, will lose track of the political capital it is burning up and will find itself disengaged from the electorate – just as the Pierre Trudeau regime did in the 1980s.

But that is not likely to happen until well into the next decade. Ottawa is in an era of Big Think and Big Talk.

© 2016 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.