Ottawa

Middle class bias

Everyone’s favourite demographic

Martha Hall Findlay is also worried about Justin Trudeau’s focus on the middle class.

“If someone says ‘I’m going to focus on a particular group’ what does that say to everybody else?” she said. “Every Canadian wants a job, every Canadian wants a future for their kids and every Canadian wants to be proud of their country. So as a prime minister, the last thing I would want to say is that my focus is on a particular segment of our society.”

This is what she seemed to be trying to get at on Saturday when she decided to question Mr. Trudeau’s ability to understand the average Canadian’s financial situation (she expanded on her concerns in her subsequent apology). Here is Mr. Trudeau’s op-ed on the middle class. But Ms. Hall Findlay could ask the question of Barack Obama. Or Bob Rae. Or Michael Ignatieff.

This strikes me as an odd attack, not least because of the reason politicians focus on the middle class: most people consider themselves to be part of it. In a 2006 survey, 64.9% of Canadians identified themselves as either “upper middle class” or “lower middle class.”

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