Welcome to federal politics, where the official languages may be French and English but the practitioners speak in a tongue of their own. Take “investment,” for example. The 2024 federal budget uses “invest” or its variants 632 times in its 416 pages.
In contrast, “spend” or “spending” appears 39 times. You may think that when you invest your money, you’ll get it back and it will earn more for you. That’s different from when you sink your paycheque into the latest fad you saw on TikTok.
Ottawa, however, doesn’t make that distinction. In some cases, politicians invent whole new words. “Greedflation” is the latest.
It’s a way of saying that the ever-increasing cost of living has nothing to do with excessive government borrowing or overregulation of the economy. Instead, it’s the fault of businesses that casually decide to raise prices, not because their costs have gone up but because they feel like doing it. It’s a convenient concept that justifies summoning business leaders to Ottawa to be denounced by indignant politicians who then post clips to their social media accounts.
“Leadership” has also taken on a new meaning. Political leadership used to involve listening to all sides of an argument and then making a decision based on what’s best for the country. Unfortunately, that’s fallen out of fashion.
In 2024, leadership means doing whatever will win you the most votes. It’s not exactly a profile in courage. The latest example is “fa.