Alexandre Boulerice

Alexandre Boulerice has served as the NDP Member of Parliament for Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie since 2011 and as the party's Deputy Leader. He is an articulate, committed progressive who genuinely believes in the economic policies he advocates — and that consistency deserves acknowledgment even if the policies deserve scrutiny. The NDP economic platform under Boulerice's influence has consistently pushed for more spending: pharmacare, dental care, childcare, housing subsidies, income supplements, and expanded public services. The party's answer to affordability problems is generally more government expenditure and higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. The problem is that Canada has been implementing versions of this approach for years and the affordability crisis has gotten worse, not better. Dental care was implemented. Childcare was partially implemented. Federal spending as a share of GDP hit levels not seen outside of wartime. Interest payments on the national debt are now the fourth-largest federal expenditure. Canadians are paying more for housing, food, and services than at any point in a generation. The NDP's confidence-and-supply agreement with the Trudeau Liberals — signed by Boulerice's party and leader — helped keep a government in power through years of policies that contributed materially to the cost of living crisis. That is a form of co-responsibility. You cannot demand credit for what an agreement produces while avoiding responsibility for what it costs. I don't doubt Boulerice's sincerity. I question whether his prescription matches the diagnosis.