How did you get to be a leftist?

And it did. Interest rates soared, housing became more and more unavailable, and spending on the public good decreased. All those grand things that happened in the 1960s and 1970s like Expo and the Olympics were obviously not going to be repeated any time soon. The Conservatives ended the program for dependent children (the “baby bonus”) and completely re-worked the unemployment insurance system to root out “loafers”.

As a young boy, I grew up in a traditionally Progressive Conservative household. My father’s parents were big supporters of the party (neither being from Canada). By university, I joined the youth wing of the party to listen how the Liberals were going to destroy the country.

I did manage to move out in my thirties because my sister and cousin lived in something called a “co-op”. Rent was like $500 for a tiny apartment, and I could afford that, so I moved from my parent’s house to a downtown apartment closer to work. Meanwhile, the Ontario conservatives cut spending and taxes by making the City of Toronto raise property taxes to pay for the same thing, put an end to transit construction, and people actually started dying as home prices just kept going up. Even my cousin, who had stuck with the party while I remained an independent, couldn’t understand why the Conservatives were being so goddamn mean. I was done with the Conservative party.

AMC Theaters to Run Even More Commercials Before Movies Play - Bloomberg.com

Meanwhile, my stint in the co-op introduced me to socialist concepts and as I read the works of Linda McQuaig (who wrote about universal programs and tax cuts used to justify more borrowing) and Mel Hurtig (who discussed the importance of government in an economy) I started leaning further to the left. Soon I myself was working for political candidates - for the left-leaning New Democratic Party. It became obvious to me that although government sometimes wastes money, almost all the money it collects it spends and returns to the economy, while businesses just keep their wealth and expect everyone to pay interest on it. I was done with conservatism for good.

And things got worse. The economy stagnated. Inflation was still bad. Good jobs were hard to get. After one term, I was through. I wasn’t being well paid despite having a law degree and I had to keep living with my parents.

Finally, Brian Mulroney got elected with a massive majority government in 1984 and we all knew everything would change.

Why do older siblings always hate younger siblings?