Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging that a future government would cut what he calls ‘wasteful foreign aid’ and would not allow funding to go to ‘dictators, terrorists and multi-national bureaucracies.’

  • brax@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    Sounds like Putin is pulling his strings too. Great.

    I have no idea how so many people think this stupid bag of hot air is actually worthy of running the country.

    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Really? You have no idea? It’s pretty simple really, when you have one bag of hot air running the country for almost a decade, people are going to be open to any alternative even if it’s an objectively stupider and more dangerous bag of hot air.

      I consider myself a progressive and was happy when Trudeau kicked Harper out, but lately it almost feels like his party is trying to make the cons seem like the better option (which again, they objectively aren’t).

        • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Yes but when everyone is sick of trudeau, and your only selling point is “I’M NOT TRUDEAU!” a lot of idiots gonna eat that shit up

          There are truly no good options this election…

          • brax@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            Sigh is also not Trudeau, and a coalition NDP/Liberal government could do wonders to fix the middle and lower classes.

            But nah, vote for Poilivere and run us all into the ground as fast as we can, because Trudeau Bad I guess…

            We REALLY need to get money back into education and start some American conspiracy de-programming.

            Also worth mentioning that while there are no “good” options, there are certainly some options that are much worse than others.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        It’s a rare day when the opposition is just so objectively bad that you actually get to be worse than normal and not be anything close – and, of course, the reds don’t really start too far in our favour to begin with.

        While our choice (during FPTP) is between ‘bad’ and ‘worse’, they have a lot of buffer space.

  • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    I feel like I could do Poilievre’s job, watch this:

    • If you make me Prime Minister, I will only spend money on the things that are really important. And I’ll cut spending on the things that aren’t! What specifically are those things you ask? Well it’s the wasteful and corrupt things I’ll cut, and the important and good things I’ll fund, of course!
    • Justin Trudeau is bad guys
    • There’s still time to become the blockchain capital!
    • I’ll only allow immigrants into this country if they already own at least one home here!
    • Aren’t glasses and ties like, so lame!
    • How do you do, fellow poor people (holds up premium brand cup of ramen)
    • zaphod@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Nah it’s way simpler than that: turn on Fox. Find out what Trump is saying. Say you’ll do that.

      Done and done!

      • Quadhammer@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        “We’re gonna build a wall, take the guns and put all those dumbass rednecks in it! More money for my legal fees please!”

    • Formes@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago
      1. Why is Justin Trudeau Bad - he will often point out SOMETHING JUSTIN TRUDEAU HAS ACTUALLY DONE THAT IS BAD.
      2. He actually has talked about how to get more housing being built. He has actually talked about things to cut - and why to cut them (like the Carbon tax that has had pretty much zero benefit, but has inflated the cost of heating, transportation, and food in this countries at a time we have an affordability crisis).
      3. Block Chain being out of control of the Government, means the Government can’t devalue the currency (As in cause inflation) By printing more of it on a whim. There is some (unfortunate) sense to it. I would prefer a constitutional reform that would tie the Canadian Dollar back to Gold as it would again, prevent willy nilly printing of money which… drives inflation. And that would generally mean less bailouts, and more cautious action taking that needs to focus on prevention of crisis instead of printing your way out of a financial crisis.
      4. Slowing down immigration is really important. We are adding more people than jobs being added to the economy, and more people than houses can be built. We also have an issue with Doctors. If a person already owns a house here - whatever. But we need to slow down on immigration.
      5. No. But you have to make sure your Outfit provides a sense of you being competent.
      6. I don’t think he has ever said “fellow poor people” But he has certainly pointed out the policies and situations that have driven more people into poverty.

      Instead of Parroting the Media, maybe actually go and listen to his uncut, unclipped answering of the media. Unlike what Trudeau seems to do, Pierre is seemingly actually able to speak a whole sentence without stuttering - almost like he is actually confident in his remark: And that is bloody refreshing.

      Oh. PS - I think Pierre has some bad takes, he is a human being after all. But after these years of Trudeau: This country is in Shambles. Car thefts are up, Government Spending is up, Poverty Rates are Climbing. We have had more Scandals in the last 8 years than in the rest of my lifetime - and they all fall on Trudeau’s Shoulders.

      Love him or Hate him: Pierre is by current appearances more competent of a Leader than Trudeau, and Competent is what this country needs.

      • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Why is Justin Trudeau Bad - he will often point out SOMETHING JUSTIN TRUDEAU HAS ACTUALLY DONE THAT IS BAD.

        Pollievre is not unique in this, but a major pitfall of opposition leaders is they spend all their time saying the current party leader is bad, but they never actually say what they’d do different. Mulcair was awful for this as well.

        What does set Pollievre and the conservatives apart lately is what qualifies as a national scandal to them. Lately there’s been a lot of Trudeau took a vacation scandals, which turn out to be Trudeau spent time with people he’s spent time with for his whole privileged life. The bar the PC’s set for scandal is moronic.

        On the list of things Trudeau has been called evil for, I find most to be bullshit. Even pinning the WE scandal on hims was bullshit, as the recommendation was made by public servants and Trudeau asked them to try again because the optics were bad, to which they returned with the same plan. You can call me a Trudeau simp for that or whatever but I don’t particularly like him and I would be happier if they ran someone else instead of throwing the next election to a Conservative majority out of pride and hubris like Kathleen Wynn did.

        He actually has talked about how to get more housing being built. He has actually talked about things to cut - and why to cut them (like the Carbon tax that has had pretty much zero benefit, but has inflated the cost of heating, transportation, and food in this countries at a time we have an affordability crisis).

        What’s actually wrong with the carbon tax other than it being the conservative boogeyman for 5 years running? It’s actually a conservative idea. The heating oil exemption is entirely a shitshow of an idea.

        On housing, I think we all agree that there needs to be more done. I actually have listened to what Pollievre has said and it’s not terrible.

        I do think playing strong man and calling every barrier to housing NIMBYism will result in a lot side effects like the Ontario greenbelt getting destroyed and houses built on cheap floodplains or other unsuitable land because cities are in a financial bind.

        Block Chain being out of control of the Government, means the Government can’t devalue the currency

        Pollievre was the finance critic at the time he proposed this! 1 month after he made those comments bitcoin dropped 57%.

        If Bitcoin was such a great hedge against inflation, it should be inversely correlated with inflation these last few years. In late 2021 inflation started rising above guidance levels, Bitcoin was jumping between $60k and $30k and back. 2022 we reached peak inflation, and BTC started the year with a drop. Then BoC and US Fed announced rate hikes starting in 2022, and Bitcoin dropped 57%. Now that interest rates are flat and expected to decrease, BTC has been increasing again. Bitcoin isn’t actually an inflation hedge, it is entirely purchased by speculators because it has no utility except for speculation. In theory, sure inflation hedge, in practice, it’s a speculate asset.

        Gold hasn’t even had standout performance since inflation started. I think the idea of an inflation free currency sounds great but isn’t possible because inflation was largely driven by supply shortages, government handouts, and speculative greed. Increases in the money supply do play a part, but a Gold standard assumes all inflation is due to monetary inflation, and not fluctuations in demand or supply or assets. The price of gold also jumps a lot, so if we used the gold standard, the price of gold is always fixed, but those fluctuations result in the prices of every other good jumping around inversely, which would make prices a lot less predictable. The value of the dollar would decrease any time anyone mines gold so there’d by inflation anyways, and if China or India decided to dump their gold reserves they could tank our economies whenever they wanted.

        Central banking and managing the money supply are incredibly powerful tools. They can be used poorly, or well. After the financial crisis of 2008 when trillions of dollars of value were lost (or rather, it came out they never existed in the first place), managing interest rates and the money supply were the only things that actually caused economies to recover.

        Slowing down immigration is really important. We are adding more people than jobs being added to the economy, and more people than houses can be built. We also have an issue with Doctors. If a person already owns a house here - whatever. But we need to slow down on immigration.

        I agree that we should require an immigration plan when we set immigration targets.

        No. But you have to make sure your Outfit provides a sense of you being competent. I don’t think he has ever said “fellow poor people” But he has certainly pointed out the policies and situations that have driven more people into poverty.

        My point here was they had him drop the glasses and tie as part of a makeover because he looked like a dweeb, but he is a dweeb and I don’t think he really relates to the average Canadian.

        Car thefts are up

        This is 100% the fault of car manufacturers making cars that can be trivially stolen. Car thefts aren’t even at a historically high level if you actually look at the numbers, the only differences now are cars are more expensive and easier to steal than they ever have been.

        We have had more Scandals in the last 8 years than in the rest of my lifetime - and they all fall on Trudeau’s Shoulders

        Citation needed. As I mentioned earlier, what qualifies for a scandal these days is pathetic and driven largely by conservative owned media.

      • AnotherDirtyAnglo@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        I’m no fan of Trudeau’s since he shitcanned electoral reform after bathing in the applause of citizens from across the country for months after saying that election would be the last one under FPTP.

        Having said that… PP could show us how smart he is by whipping out his big balls and telling us EXACTLY what he’d do to change things, complete with a costed budget. But he hasn’t. And he won’t. Because he’s full of shit.

        How do I know he’s full of shit? Because Thug Ford ran the same sort of campaign (Buck a beer folks!!) and just look at how he’s fucking with the entire province - specifically health care and education, to the benefit of his friends in private industry.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Pierre is by current appearances more competent of

        “Competent of” is a hat on a hat. Stop writing like an American.

        a Leader than Trudeau,

        Mr Polievre isn’t even as competent a leader as Mr o’Toole.

        and Competent is what this country needs.

        Agreed there. But cruelty and elitist conservatives has NEVER been the way. Not even once.

      • ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        the Carbon tax that has had pretty much zero benefit, but has inflated the cost of heating, transportation, and food in this countries at a time we have an affordability crisis

        Isn’t it true that Canadians receive a rebate to offset the average cost of the carbon tax, i.e. lower emitters actually come out ahead, while excessive emitters are the ones paying the most? What’s the alternative plan for tackling climate change?

        [Blockchain or gold standard] would generally mean less bailouts, and more cautious action taking that needs to focus on prevention of crisis instead of printing your way out of a financial crisis.

        To me, printing your way out of a financial crisis, which is often out of the control of the Bank of Canada and the Goverment of Canada in the first place (see: global pandemic), is a feature, not a bug, of reserve banking. I think that Keynesian economics helped to mitigate the impacts of the 2008 sunprime lending crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, in Canada.

      • blindsight@beehaw.org
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        9 months ago

        Instead of Parroting the Media, maybe actually go and listen to his uncut, unclipped answering of the media. Unlike what Trudeau seems to do, Pierre is seemingly actually able to speak a whole sentence without stuttering - almost like he is actually confident in his remark: And that is bloody refreshing.

        Pierre Poilievre does not “talk straight”:

        But Poilievre’s team have recently instituted a policy whereby journalists may only ask one question each, no follow-up, five in total. (His flacks cite “time constraints” at each event.) This practice revives an old tactic from the previous Harper government, which grew tired of the media by the end of its nearly-ten-years in power and clamped down on all the pesky question-asking.

        The Conservative media wranglers snatch the microphone out of reporters’ hands as soon as they ask their question, depriving them of any retort to dear leader’s rants.

        In responding, Poilievre generally lumps these questions into one of two categories — ones he likes, which he can use to deliver an answer that may go viral; and ones he doesn’t, whereby he can attack the journalist for asking them and achieve even more virality.

        https://www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/the-pierre-poilievre-media-circus

        He brings receipts, too. You can see his entire unedited question and response if you want to check his characterization.

        Trudeau says a whole lot of nothing in most of his responses, granted, so he’s not much better. At least he usually addresses the actual question?

  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Canada uses a tied aid system, so aid money goes into our economy and buys us favour

    I don’t think anyone trusts the Cons to boost military spending, every single year Trudeau has spent more (% wise) than Harper ever did. Harper destroyed our military budget

  • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Remember when you hear that kind of talk, someone is going to get something out of it, and it isn’t going to be you.

    Before you decide on this, consider that if people half way across the world can live a better life, it’s better for all of us. Helping countries develop is great and we should invest in that. Poivrière is sure not speaking about cutting funding to Israel, or suporting the idea that there is a genocide happening in Gaza.

    Go look up what exactly he means by “useless funding” before taking this at face value. And not just from this article, but from his political agenda.

    Poilievre’s office did not immediately specify which countries or programs would be on the financial chopping block.

    Last month, Poilievre pledged to permanently stop funding a United Nations agency that supports Palestinians amid allegations some of its staff played a role in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

    After the accusations emerged, the federal Liberals said they would pause funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNWRA.

    The former Conservative government of Stephen Harper halted funding for the agency back in 2010, and the Liberals restored it in 2016 after coming into power. In 2010, Harper announced his government would freeze foreign aid for five years as a way to balance the budget. Spending cuts came two years later.

    There is no plan, just a history of bad planning. This is a dog whistle and nothing more.

    • S_204@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      If you think that you clearly haven’t been paying attention to the guy.

    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      What funding to Israel? The only money the feds have sent has been to UNRWA and other humanitarian aid orgs. The most you could say we do for the Israeli government is the free trade deal.