ABOVE: Global’s Jacques Bourbeau tells you what to expect from Wednesday night’s speech from the throne
OTTAWA – With the Conservative government’s new focus on consumer-friendly policy, looking to stand up for the little guy, one big question lingers: where does this leave the NDP and Liberals?
The NDP has consistently pushed for measures to decrease credit card processing fees, develop an air passenger bill of rights, restrict fees at bank machines and to unlock cell phones — small acts that put at least a few bucks back in Canadians’ pockets.
And ever since Justin Trudeau began his campaign for Liberal leader, the chorus has been constant—they’re here for middle-class families.
But now, it looks like the Conservatives are encroaching on that territory.
The government is poised to use Wednesday’s throne speech to promise action on the price gap between goods sold in Canada and the United States, tackle high cellular roaming fees, introduce an air passenger’s bill of rights and help small- and medium-sized businesses through regulating credit card processing fees.
Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto specializing in Canadian government and politics, said the Conservatives appear to be encroaching primarily on NDP territory.
“I’m sort of amused by this whole thing. I thought the Conservatives were committed to private enterprise, so they presumably believe in a healthy market place will be the best to set prices as they come up. That’s their underlying ideology,” he said.
“When you say you’re going to be consumer friendly, it suggests you’re adopting a lot of the policies the NDP has been recommending, which is regulation.”
The NDP has been clearer on policy, Wiseman said, while the Liberals have been touting sweeping statements about the middle class.
Wiseman says the opposition will continue to denounce the Conservatives – but they don’t have to focus on the throne speech.
“It’s not as if they’re having a vote, are we in favour or against consumers?” he said.
“Everybody will claim they’re representing the middle class.”
Opposition leaders say Harper’s new-found love for consumers is not genuine.
NDP leader Tom Muclair says Harper is trying to distract from an ongoing Senate expense scandal that has implicated the inner core of his office.
“They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so trying to imitate some of the things the NDP has already put on the table is fine as far as it goes, but don’t forget Stephen Harper has voted against these very things every time he’s had an opportunity to do so,” Mulcair said Tuesday in Montreal.
“He can try to pretend that he’s changed his tune. He hasn’t. What he’s trying to do is change the channel. He doesn’t want Canadians thinking about his Senate scandal. Most of the senators who are having problems right now are Stephen Harper’s senators.”
Trudeau agrees the current debate is about ethics.
“It’s nice that after eight years in government that this government is finally paying attention to the consumers, but I think it’s going to take more than a throne speech to distract from the very serious ethical shortcomings this government has demonstrated,” Trudeau told reporters during a stop in Toronto Tuesday.
“I certainly hope the Conservatives are finally paying attention to the concerns of middle class Canadians … when we launched a year ago, I started talking about the middle class and the challenges they’re facing.”
Wiseman said the Conservative government, facing Senate backlash, realizes consumer-friendly policies affect everyone.
“Every citizen is a consumer. Every non-citizen is a consumer. You want to change the channel,” said Wiseman.
“You do polling, you find out what irks people, people say they’re upset about their roaming charges, they’re upset about the airlines treat them. Then you incorporate that. That’s exactly how they operate. In fact all the parties to some extent do that, they want to find out what the pulse is and then they cater to it.”
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