Freeland polls Canadians on resentment towards ‘the rich’

The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld

The Department of Finance confidentially polled Canadians on resentment against “the rich” before hiking the capital gains tax, records show. 

Within days of receiving the poll results, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a millionaire herself, began characterizing critics as having “rich friends.”

“There is a growing gap between the rich, who have become richer in recent years, and everyone else,” said the Department of Finance report Pre-Budget Focus Group Research. It found that most did not expect the economy to improve given that "wages have not kept up with inflation."

Canadians overall complained the economy was terrible, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

Freeland recently shelved her promise to reign in spending after raising the national debt ceiling last month, for the second time in three years. 

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s spending bonanza continues to spiral out of control, with the current deficit surpassing the forecast by 16%.

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“Here we care for one another,” Freeland said, appearing aloof to the runaway debt. “We are turning to our younger generation and those who care about them to say, ‘Our government is at your service.’”

According to Five-Year Trends for Canada, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely to ever be able to own a home, a trajectory that is expected to "deteriorate further in the next five years.”

“Most participants felt the Canadian economy is in a bad state and used words such as ‘unaffordable,’ ‘declining,’ ‘expensive,’ ‘rough,’ ‘strained,’ ‘terrible,’ ‘unstable’ and ‘unpredictable’ to describe it,” said Focus Group Research. 

It identified complaints that wealthy Canadians “have become richer” but did not elaborate. 

“There were also comments about the perceived growing gap between the rich, … and everyone else who were seen to be struggling more and more.”

Canadian Taxpayers Federation director @franco_nomics joins @EzraLevant, where he says Canadians aren't believing what Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and the Trudeau Liberals are selling when it comes to caring about the national debt.

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Cabinet received the poll results on February 23, prompting Minister Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to characterize Opposition MPs as having wealthy friends.

“The Conservative Party is still the party that lowers taxes for the rich,” Trudeau said on February 28. He later claimed that “the Opposition Leader is taking cues from his lobbyist entourage on how to make the rich richer."

“All they support is austerity and their rich friends,” said Freeland.

Minister Freeland and her husband Graham Bowley, a New York Times staffer, are millionaires. The couple has held title to seven-figure properties in Toronto, New York and London, England with additional investments in Alberta and Ukraine, according to ethics filings.