#33 Are Liberals The Middle-Class Heroes They Thought They’d Be?

Follow-Up With Althia Raj

Three years into their mandate, how are the Liberals doing with their ambitious agenda to grow Canada's middle class? Have partisan politics and economic realities dimmed the government's hope of bringing “real change”? In this episode: Former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, Infrastructure and Communities Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Tory MPs Tony Clement and Deepak Obhrai, People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier, and NDP MPs Matthew Dubé and Jenny Kwan. Hosted by Althia Raj. Detailed show notes: (3:15) François-Philippe Champagne explains his government's accomplishments in 30 seconds (4:10) Kevin Page puts income inequality into perspective (6:15) Missing "middle class" definition and "tectonic plate shift" in income distribution (7:56) Analyzing impact of Liberal government's child benefits (13:34) Page quotes Forrest Gump: "S**t happens" and draws wisdom from squirrels (14:41) Grading the Trudeau government (16:25) Opposition MPs assess the last 3 years (18:50) Visiting Jean-Yves Duclos in his office (20:31) How the Liberals' measure the "middle class" (28:24) Feds will not fund Ontario's basic income project (34:10) OK, we gave Champagne more time to talk