After 18 months as federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre spoke last week to a local Chamber of Commerce for the first time.
As he took the stage in Vancouver, he was eager to explain why it took him so long.
Poilievre began by noting that he had spoken more than 100 times on shop floors and to union locals. That was good to hear — even refreshing. He deserves credit for that effort.
But then he dropped the punchline, and it wasn’t kind to his hosts. The real reason he stays away from business audiences, he said, is because of ‘utterly useless’ corporate lobbyists focused on ‘getting lunches with ministers’ and ‘showing off their latest ESG brochure.’
Poilievre created a caricature of ‘politicians and CEOs working together for their own interest.’
He’s not alone.
In Ottawa, business-bashing is part of the populist playbook — right across the political spectrum. Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently slammed a media company for its “garbage decision” to make cuts and layoffs after a $40 million operating loss. His government has imposed new taxes and costs on banks and tech companies because they’re banks and tech companies.
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh routinely blames “‘corporate greed’ for rising prices. He recently accused retailers of ‘ripping people off’ — as if the high inflation, wage settlements and supply chain disruptions of recent years never happened.
Are concerns about high prices legitimate? Yes. Should business leaders be asked hard questions? Absolutely. Should their policy prescriptions be challenged and debated? Of course. Will anyone shed tears for big companies? No.
It’s a dangerous game, however, when political leaders traffic in anger, stereotyping and scapegoating of any group or institution. It might garner a few votes, but it won’t move us forward as a nation.
Canada has serious challenges: lagging productivity. Skills and labour shortages. An overloaded and disjointed health-care system. Insufficient investment in climate and clean technology infrastructure. And much more.
These challenges are too wicked for the government to solve alone. While government’s job is to set the agenda and make the rules, it’s a huge error for political leaders not to engage the financial, human, intellectual and relationship capital of the private sector.
Does business want to be part of the solution? You bet. That, too, earned a rebuke from Mr. Poilievre. He criticized business leaders because ‘they want to get along with everybody’ and urged them to ‘stop sucking up to the people who are doing the damage to our country.’
But it’s not the role of business leaders to get partisan, or to help opposition leaders get elected. Business leaders need to work with government — no matter who is in government.
This is particularly true today, in an era when none of the major federal party leaders have a business background. That’s not a criticism; they bring other skills and qualities to the table.
But it does mean business and political leaders need to reset their relationship, and to approach one another with fewer assumptions, and more humility; with less rhetoric, and more dialogue; and with less theatre, and more collaboration and co-creation.
In last week’s speech, Poilievre also told his audience that he favours a ‘bottom-up free enterprise agenda’ — i.e., an agenda rooted in the needs of enterprising businesspeople, not politicians in Ottawa. He was wise to speak at a Chamber of Commerce, because there’s no more “bottom-up” business organization in our nation today. In every town, city or province in Canada, from heartland to hinterland, the vast majority of Chamber members are small businesses. They want their chambers to work with Poilievre, Trudeau and Singh — just as they do successfully with all our provincial leaders.
Canada needs political and business leaders to work together in a spirit of goodwill, reflecting the shared interests of businesses, workers and communities. It’s time to rebuild that spirit.
