Some admirable, but infeasible, like 100% EV sales by 2035. Others very flawed like the (industrial) carbon tax. Many in the know would say cap and trade used in EU and Quebec+California is much better.
Setting aside cronyism and corruption (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_scandals_in_Canada#Federal)...
Some of Trudeau's pro-corporate policies were indirect. If you're a homeowner with an above median wage job, you likely also benefited from said policies. To be blunt, many Urban Torontoers are out of touch with the worsening plight of the working class since 2015. Immigration policy helped make you house rich. Provided high rents for your rental property. Or better yet, provided cheap labour for your franchise restaurant who wouldn't report you for shorting them on overtime pay. Extremely common for recent immigrants to be paid below legal wage. Either undercounting hours, or not paying 1.5x after 44 hours. This is why I say "pro-corporate in some of the worst ways."
The theories that immigration was
needed to prop up the economy or provide labour for residential construction are also bunk.
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A lot of brouhaha by 2023, but the truth is, net migration had already doubled by 2018, with every year of Trudeau's premiership being higher than Harper's peak (except 2020). Furthermore, annual natural increase (births minus deaths) has always been positive since stats were recorded (to be fair, this trend may reverse soon).
If you consummately believe that economic growth is predicated on population growth... well the population would've grown with 0 net migration from natural increase alone. What instead happened was a reversal of GDP per capita. Falling back to 2012-2014 levels by 2023-2024 depending on calculation method. With the same GDP per capita, but much higher asset prices, it's no wonder that quality of life declined.
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The short-term benefit to corporations of relaxed green objectives is less than that of a massive influx of labour, many of which became indentured consumers and renters.
Wage suppression, corporate rent-seeking behaviour, asset price inflation.
What sort of corporations benefited the most from the Trudeau administration's policies? Real estate, grocery stores, telecom etc... Those producing products with inelastic demand. "Pro-corporate in some of the worst ways."
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There's this sentiment on UT that Harper was a
bad fiscal conservative, who privatized public assets like the Canadian Wheat Board, while subsidizing oil and gas, despite mostly running budget deficits. Trudeau was a well meaning, but flawed white knight who tried to redistribute money to the underprivileged, unlike evil Harper. The truth is much more complicated.
It would surprise many that business subsidies actually
increased under Trudeau compared to Harper:
"Federal Business Subsidies: Explosive Growth Since 2014 [...] subsidies have risen 140 per cent over the nine years ending in 2023–24, compared to 17 per cent over the previous nine years."
Financial support for the fossil fuel industry also increased when Trudeau took office as well (Environmental Defence definition).
I vastly oversimplify here, there's a difference between the first two and the latter two: investing in infrastructure and cutting taxes to stimulate business investment (Harper, Carney) vs. wage suppression and increasing corporate subsidies (Trudeau).
The trouble with corporate welfare is once you start, it's hard to stop. Not just due to lobbying, but because the companies become structurally reliant.
