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Among political epithets used by many but understood by few, “neoliberal” has recently taken a prominent place. Its omnipresence in books, articles and newspaper pieces can tell us a great deal about the puzzles facing public life today.

What makes it troublesome is that the meaning depends on who uses it. A conservative uses it to describe someone as too left wing. A liberal uses it to mean that someone is not left-wing enough. It’s a dreaded term. The other day a journalist remarked that when you’re called “a neoliberal hack” on Twitter, you know it’s the kiss of death.

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On the other hand, those called “neoliberals” can sometimes be popular. Justin Trudeau falls into the neoliberal category, a point mentioned recently in a survey of world leaders. He’s anxious to build pipelines, a sure sign of his devotion to the market economy. And he’s a globalist, desperate to keep the North America Free Trade Agreement alive. Odd to think it was opposed by just about all Liberals and New Democrats when the Conservatives introduced the first stage of it in 1988. Today no neoliberal would be against it on principle.