COLUMN: Think Again – Power is the Liberal Party’s only enduring principle

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This article was published 23/03/2025 (368 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What does the Liberal Party of Canada stand for? Are there any enduring principles that remain constant regardless of political circumstances?

Only one—gaining power.

The Liberal Party exists for the purpose of winning elections and holding on to political power. The moment a policy becomes politically inconvenient, Liberals are quick to jettison it.

For example, in the 1988 federal election, the Liberal Party fought against a free trade agreement with the United States. Former Liberal leader John Turner went so far as to argue that free trade would erase the border between our two countries.

Fast forward to 1993 when the Liberals, led by Jean Chretien, won a majority government. Not only did they keep the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement in place, but they also ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which included both Mexico and the United States. Chretien then proceeded to sign free trade agreements with other countries around the world.

In that same year, Chretien’s Liberals campaigned on scrapping the unpopular GST. However, upon winning the 1993 election, Chretien kept the GST in place because his government needed the revenue from this tax to balance the budget. By this point, public sentiment had shifted in favour of balancing the budget, and the Liberals shifted right along with it.

When Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015, he boldly proclaimed that Canada was back. What he meant was that the Liberals would take drastic steps to combat climate change. The centerpiece of his plan was the so-called “price on pollution,” more widely known as the carbon tax.

The carbon tax is a levy on fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gas emissions. That is why the tax is charged on things like engine fuel and natural gas. As of right now, the carbon tax adds 17.6 cents to the price of a litre of gasoline.

Up until just a few weeks ago, Liberals vociferously defended the carbon tax as an important way of saving the planet from environmental catastrophe. They claimed that anyone who opposed the carbon tax didn’t care about the environment. Mark Carney, who served for many years as Trudeau’s economic advisor, went so far as to suggest that the only problem with the carbon tax was that it wasn’t high enough.

However, that was then and this is now. Since the carbon tax is now a huge political liability, the Liberals realized that they had no choice but to jettison their signature environmental policy.

But they didn’t just quietly get rid of the tax. Newly installed Prime Minister Mark Carey made a big show of cancelling the carbon tax on his first day in office. Liberals went so far as to trumpet this change on social media, proudly proclaiming, “Mark Carney cancelled the carbon tax” and “Mark Carney got it done.” That is some impressive chutzpah.

However, before you get too excited about this change, keep in mind that the carbon tax hasn’t actually been abolished. Scrapping the legislation that enacted the carbon tax would require a vote in Parliament, and Parliament remains shut down until at least March 24. What Carney did was use his executive power to lower the carbon tax rate to zero.

Lest you think that this is a difference without a distinction, keep in mind that the government can jack the tax rate back up again at any time without going to Parliament for approval. If you think the Liberals won’t do that, then you haven’t been paying attention for the last decade.

The Liberal Party of Canada stands for one thing, and one thing alone—gaining power. Never forget that.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.