The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) conference ended recently in Davos, Switzerland, and our sole Canadian political representative, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, was an enthusiastic participant.
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As always, most participants flew in on private jets, spewing carbon while chastising the rest of us for driving to work. The sumptuous menus did not contain the slightest hint of insects, while the attendees would prefer we little people eat less meat and dairy. Ideally, more protein-rich, delicious bugs.
Freeland’s message to the assembled elites was interesting for its arrogance and inaccuracy. For starters, she claimed that manufacturing in Canada must be “re-tooled” to conform with the ridiculous net-zero goals of the Liberal government.
For someone who has such little knowledge of Canada’s manufacturing sector, this was a very ill-informed statement that didn’t belong in any international forum – not even the WEF. I can assure you it offended pretty much every beleaguered manufacturer in Canada who are struggling to stay solvent under Freeland’s government’s policies and those of some provinces and trying hard not to depart Canada for more welcoming jurisdictions.
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One thing this Liberal government sorely lacks is humility. No one expects any politician or government to have comprehensive knowledge about every relevant issue, but a sensible government would at least consult the experts on a particular topic before forming policy. This government conducts phony consultations where it pretends to elicit the views of knowledgeable business people, yet never lets their sensible advice alter their ideological-driven policies.
The other key part of Freeland’s message was beckoning to businesses to come to Canada as we offer very generous subsidies on the taxpayer dime. Come to Canada, where we will give you billions of dollars to build a likely unneeded electric vehicle battery plant, and our generous taxpayers won’t bat an eye!
Canada’s long history of corporate welfare that ends up just being a large waste of taxpayer dollars would caution against this approach, but this government has no respect for our money and massive debt to show for it.
There was a time when the WEF was very different. Since its inception in 1971 by German engineer Klaus Schwab, it was mostly an interesting forum for international political leaders and policy experts to exchange views in, admittedly, a very luxurious setting.
When leftists today try to defend the participation of politicians like Freeland and Trudeau in WEF events by saying that former PM Stephen Harper attended years ago so it must be OK, they don’t understand that the organization is very different today than it was then.
The pandemic and the so-called climate crisis seemed to be the catalysts that inspired Schwab to entertain his global government delusions of grandeur, envisioning a future where an unelected world government would supersede national governments in determining economic and social policy.
As for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s promise to never send any Conservative politicians to Davos in future, I beg to differ. The yearly event does provide an excellent opportunity to hob-nob with some interesting and powerful people.
I would favour a select few Conservatives attend and be disruptive and contrarian to the increasingly socialist Davos message, as new Argentine President Javier Milei did this year. At last year’s COP28 climate conference, many who disagreed with the climate extremist viewpoint attended, and even the United Arab Emirates host stated that achieving net-zero would be tantamount to going back to living in caves.
A dose of common sense would be good for the international set, and being the skunk at the garden party is always entertaining.
Catherine Swift is the President of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada. Learn more at ccmbc.ca.
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SWIFT: Chrystia Freeland in WEF-land
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01.02.2024
The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) conference ended recently in Davos, Switzerland, and our sole Canadian political representative, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, was an enthusiastic participant.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
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As always, most participants flew in on private jets, spewing carbon while chastising the rest of us for driving to work. The sumptuous menus did not contain the slightest hint of insects, while the attendees would prefer we little people eat less meat and dairy. Ideally, more protein-rich, delicious bugs.
Freeland’s message to the assembled elites was interesting for its arrogance and inaccuracy. For starters, she claimed that manufacturing in Canada must be “re-tooled” to conform with the ridiculous net-zero goals of the Liberal government.
For someone who has such little knowledge of Canada’s manufacturing sector, this was a very ill-informed statement that didn’t belong in any international forum – not even the WEF. I can assure you it offended pretty much every beleaguered........
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