Despite flooding the zone ahead of the budget, being aggressive will only take the Liberals so far

Lead Public Affairs Counsellor Andrea Sarkic was quoted by The Hill Times, April 10, 2024.

Former Conservative staffer Andrea Sarkic, now a public affairs counsellor for Compass Rose Group, told The Hill Times that despite the Liberals’ switch to offence, Poilievre and the Conservatives remain relatively safe. 

Compass Rose Group’s Andrea Sarkic says the Liberals might as well ‘go big or go home’ since anyone primarily concerned about fiscal responsibility is most likely already in the Conservative camp. Photograph courtesy of Andrea Sarkic

Until the budget documents are tabled and the Conservatives can begin “picking the meat off the bones,” Sarkic said their critique can remain squarely on potential inflationary costs, and the Liberals’ track record of “throwing money at still unresolved issues,” pointing to deputy leader Melissa Lantsman’s (Thornhill, Ont.) response to the announcements.

“In a frantic slew of announcements over the last week, Justin Trudeau is doubling down on rebranded, recycled policies that simply are not getting houses built,” Lantsman told reporters on April 5.

While the Conservatives have the added benefit of having several “riled-up” premiers in their corner upset over the Liberals’ intrusion on provincial jurisdiction, Sarkic said the Liberals might as well “go big or go home.”

“At the end of the day, Trudeau knows that voters who care deeply about financial discipline are probably already in the Conservative column, so they’re just trying to speak to folks looking for lifelines,” Sarkic explained. “The strategy is a little risky because people reading between the lines can see this as panic, but I appreciate the political chutzpah.”

However, being bold and aggressive will only take the Liberals so far, and budget announcements without proper execution would bring any post-budget momentum to a screeching halt. 

“If I’m the Conservatives, I’m going to lean in on the difficulty of getting buy-in from the provinces and territories and getting the uptake to where it needs to be,” Sarkic said. “As well-intentioned as these ideas may be, a vision without a strategy is a hallucination.”