As he did when he became Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre has forced sensible changes to federal policy, ones that bode well for his and Canada's political future.Poilievre is neither the prime minister like Justin Trudeau, nor the deal-keeper like Jagmeet Singh. Even so, the sensibility of his policies, the strength of his argumentation, and the savvy of his political targeting have already forced the government to make positive changes.The latest proof came last week. Poilievre was scheduled to have an 'Axe the Tax' rally in Windsor, Nova Scotia in the riding of MP Kody Blais, the Liberals’ Atlantic Canada caucus chair. Just hours before the rally was to take place, the Liberals announced the carbon tax would not be applied to home fuel oil for three years. This 'national' policy affected just 3% of Canadians, but 40% of Atlantic Canadians.The timing is clearly beyond coincidental, though it was precipitated by a cascade of events in recent months. Ottawa has ratcheted up the carbon tax every April 1, showing the joke is on the nation who elected them, as their bills keep going up. Although Ottawa had given Atlantic provinces a free pass based on their own provincial carbon-mitigation programs, the region could not meet the new threshold. Eastern provinces missed July’s deadline to have acceptably punishing tax schemes so Ottawa did it for them.Now, for the first time, Atlantic Canadians realize how bad an Ottawa Liberal policy is for affordability. In provinces west of Quebec, natural gas furnace usage ranges from 49% in Manitoba to 77% in Alberta and they have been paying the ever-increasing carbon tax all along. Although natural gas has 117 ppm (parts per million) carbon emissions per British Thermal Unit of heat produced vs the 160 of fuel oil, these worse 'polluters' out east have enjoyed a reprieve.Now, after only a few months of feeling the pinch from Ottawa, Atlantic Canada can be insulated from federal fiscal punishment once again. And it’s not the prime minister they can thank for that, nor even the Atlantic Liberals who can feel their elected office in jeopardy. No, it is really Pierre Poilievre who is responsible for this, putting political pressure on an issue his predecessor Erin O’Toole would not have been able to.This is not the first time this has happened. Days after Poilievre was elected Conservative leader in September 2022, the ArriveCan app was no longer mandatory. He was the clear catalyst for this change. Numerous airline passengers at Pearson International Airport had complained for months. Even though this outcry was loudest in Toronto, a stronghold of Liberal support, the World Economic Forum-friendly government would not budge. But, when Poilievre took his place, the indefensible policy had to go. It was too big and too indefensible a target.Similar changes occurred 30 years ago when a young Poilievre sold Reform memberships and canvassing phone calls for Jason Kenney, a Reform Party candidate later elected MP. Although the Mulroney Progressive Conservative party talked a good talk about eliminating federal deficits, they never did it. However, by the mid-90’s, the cross-country 'Axe the Tax' rallies by the Kenney-led Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the platform for debt repayment by the Reform Party, had become a political force of discontent the Liberals were forced to acquiesce to.Despite the massive unpopularity of the GST, the Liberals were pondering even more tax hikes before these rallies. Suddenly they realized the populist uprising with a political party fearlessly advancing its principles could threaten their political power. An accommodating Jean Chretien and a sympathetic finance minister Paul Martin, finally brought the first balanced budgets in a quarter-century.Prime Minister Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland are of a different bent, especially given that the latter sits on the board of the World Economic Forum. They are captured more by the visions of Davos elites than the will of Canadians. Regardless, the public pressure spearheaded by a relentless Poilievre has become so great that they, and even ex-Greenpeace activist Steven Guilbeault, are getting grudgingly dragged in sensible directions.These are the same Liberals, of course, who have managed to hold onto power despite losing the popular vote the last two elections, propped up by a party too financially weak to fight an election because no one wants to donate to it. This was done by syphoning money from western and rural Canada to the major cities and amassing deficits so the real costs of such spending weren’t felt. In this way, the Liberal government could virtue-signal to urban elites while making their lives seem to go pretty well and the NDP could claim credit for the public spending they made taxpayers pay for.This house of cards is beginning to fall both politically and economically. Trudeau’s government, like his marriage, has been revealed as a sham on its way out the door. He got in because people wanted change after almost ten years of the Harper Conservatives. Now, after eight years of the Trudeau Liberals, he is becoming the victim of the same sentiment. Canadians are ready for change once again, this time fueled by massive discontent.Unlike Harper and Trudeau, Poilievre will take the reigns of a country in shambles, its controlled demolition already well in progress. Thankfully, Canadians, even in the east, have begun to wake up to what this Liberal government really is and what it represents. 'Pharaoh' and his enslaving army will soon be swept away in a big blue wave. After this political breakthrough, Canada’s fiscal and societal renewal will begin in earnest.
