Canadians chose hope over fear and anger in 2015 and they will be faced with that choice again the next time they go to the polls, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday as he delivered an opening night keynote speech to Liberal faithful at the party’s policy convention in Ottawa.
The next election could still be more than two years away but Trudeau left no doubt that we are already hurtling toward it, that he intends to run in it, and that he knows who poses the biggest threat to his hold on power. “Pierre Poilievre’s populism, his slogans and buzzwords, are not serious solutions to the serious challenges we’re facing,” Trudeau said.
Conservatives, he said, call Liberals “too woke” for investing in people, in economic growth, in families and in climate change. “Too woke?” Trudeau hissed. “Hey, Pierre Poilievre, it’s time for you to wake up.” And the crowd roared to life, leaping to their feet, chanting his name.
Then he launched into a list of Conservative actions the Liberals are clearly planning to use as ammunition. Poilievre’s advice last year to invest in cryptocurrencies to “opt out of inflation” just before the market for many of the biggest crypto companies flopped.