The opening keynote of Collapse: Neoliberalism in Crisis, Parkland Institute's 21st Annual Conference (November 17-19, 2017).
http://parklandinstitute.cahttp://parklandconference.ca
Reclaiming Populism in the Age of Trump
Linda McQuaig
The rise of Trump and others on the far-right highlights a deep dissatisfaction with the neoliberal status quo of the last three decades. Parading as populists, Trump and his crowd are trying to shape the anti-status quo sentiment into a nasty right-wing juggernaut that rewards themselves and offers nothing to working people.
But populism has an honourable tradition of actually defending working people and challenging elites. With neoliberalism now in disarray, the moment is ripe for progressives to tap into the popular dissatisfaction over rising inequality— with an agenda that empowers working people and allows them to capture a fair share of the wealth we all collectively create.
Journalist and bestselling author Linda McQuaig has a reputation for challenging the Establishment.
As a Globe and Mail reporter, she won a National Newspaper Award in 1989 for a series of articles which sparked a public inquiry and led to the imprisonment of Ontario political lobbyist Patti Starr.
As a Senior Writer for Maclean’s magazine, McQuaig probed the early business dealings of Conrad Black in two provocative cover stories. An angry Black suggested on CBC Radio that McQuaig should be “horsewhipped.”
She has been a rare voice of dissent in the mainstream media. Since 2002, she has used her op-ed column in the Toronto Star to challenge the prevailing economic dogma, take on powerful business moguls and consistently champion a more equal and inclusive society.
As an NDP candidate in the 2015 federal election, McQuaig was denounced by Stephen Harper after she stated on CBC-TV that much of the oil from the oil sands would have to stay in the ground, if Canada is to meet its climate-change targets.
She is the author of seven controversial national best sellers, including Shooting the Hippo: Death by Deficit and Other Canadian Myths, which was recently selected one of the top 25 books of the past 25 years by the Literary Review of Canada. Her most recent book (co-written with Neil Brooks) is The Trouble with Billionaires: How the Super-Rich Hijacked the World and How We Can Take It Back.
Conference Video sponsored by:
Health Sciences Association of Alberta
http://www.hsaa.ca
Conference Video produced by:
KTNEXUS
http://ktnexus.ca
4 Comments