Falsehoods don’t hurt careers like they used to

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2023 (689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is the prevailing question in today’s politics: is there any harm or risk in lying anymore?

In the United States, plenty of evidence suggests that politicians are no longer punished when they don’t tell the truth. If anything, it appears that voters have grown used to all the fibs and just regard them as the seedy side of politics.

Donald Trump’s speeches are often an endless torrent of lies and distortions, yet his support among Americans keeps growing, to the point where he appears to be the frontrunner to win next year’s U.S. presidential election.

He’s paying no penalty for his lies. To the contrary, he’s gaining supporters and donations because of what many regard as his willingness to “tell it like it is” — even if what he’s saying is demonstrably false.

Politicians all over the world are watching this happen and, being the opportunists they are, are seeking to emulate it. Here in Canada, a long trail of distortions and falsehoods by Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has propelled his party to a substantial lead in the polls and an even greater fundraising advantage.

A year ago, the Tory leader released a Youtube video in which he claimed that “everything’s broken in Canada” — this despite the fact that Canada had weeks earlier been ranked first in the world for standard of living, second for the strength of our democracy, third for environmental quality and sixth for the well-being of our citizens.

On Jan. 2, Poilievre posted a tweet and Youtube video in which he discussed a Calgarian named “Mustafa” who (he claimed) missed his wedding in Cuba because he didn’t receive the passport he applied for 10 months earlier.

It now appears that Mustafa never existed, and Poilievre’s story was a bold fabrication. Surprisingly, the tweet and video containing the bogus story has not been removed from Poilievre’s X account.

On Jan. 25, Poilievre claimed that “Trudeau’s inflationary policies drive up rent. He refuses to confront local gatekeepers who block construction of new affordable apartments.” The Tory leader made a similar accusation in a tweet five days later.

In both tweets, he failed to disclose that the Trudeau government is spending billions of dollars on housing projects across Canada, and that residential rental rates and land use policies are provincial government responsibilities.

Last week, it was reported that up to 1,600 South Koreans could be working on an EV battery plant being constructed in Windsor, Ont. In response, Poilievre demanded a “full inquiry into how many of these taxpayer-funded jobs are going to temporary foreign workers.” He argued that the $15 billion in federal support for the project should only fund jobs for Canadian workers.

He failed to mention that South Koreans are eligible to work in Canada under the terms of a free trade agreement negotiated by the Harper government, in which Poilievre served as employment minister. He also ignored the fact that fewer than 100 South Koreans have actually entered Canada for the project and they are training Canadians who will be working on the project.

Also last week, Poilievre and most of his Conservative Party caucus voted against the updated Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. When asked to explain his party’s opposition to the agreement, he responded that it was because it would impose a carbon tax on Ukrainians.

That’s not true. The agreement does not impose a carbon tax on Ukrainians. In fact, Ukraine has already adopted carbon pricing as part of the requirements for it to become a member of the European Union and to also avoid tariffs.

Finally, Poilievre was quick to characterize last Wednesday’s event at the Niagara Falls Canada-U.S. border crossing as a terrorist act, despite no government agency on either side of the border having done so. We now know that the tragic event was caused by a traffic accident, not terrorism.

Until just a few years ago, so many false statements on such a range of important issues would have shredded Poilievre’s credibility and ended his political career.

Today, such conduct generates thousands of clicks on social media, raises millions of dollars in revenue for the Conservative Party and just might make Poilievre our next prime minister.

Deveryn Ross is a political commentator living in Brandon. deverynrossletters@gmail.com X: @deverynross