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Those who dismiss Bernier, or worry that he lacks the judgment needed of a prime minister, may be making the same mistake made about Trudeau. The basis of his alleged riskiness is his desire for change, and the policies he proposes for bringing it about. Another word for change is reform. Bernier wants to introduce reforms that will lead to improvements in areas Canada unquestionably needs to improve. Another word for that is “progress.” Bernier could be termed as much a progressive as the self-satisfied leftwingers who have appropriated that label for themselves. Perhaps more so.

He has plans that will appeal to many Canadians. Taken as a whole, his platform is criticized as too ambitious to succeed: by wanting to change so many things at once, he might scare people. That’s always a possibility, but another possibility is that many of the individual proposals he makes may carry enough appeal on their own to win over doubters.

They certainly have the potential for broad appeal. His assertion that equalization is unfair and needs to be rejigged will be seen by many as painfully self-evident. Of $17.9 billion in equalization transfers this year, $10 billion will go to Quebec. How a large, sophisticated, prosperous province like Quebec — rich in resources and highly educated human capital — can on the one hand claim special status as a nation unto itself while simultaneously demanding 55 per cent of the federal pie as a perennial have-not province is a riddle the rest of the country has never managed to solve. Bernier says the system is “unfair and inefficient” and would freeze it while the formula is reviewed. The only thing weird about that is that a Quebec politician is brave enough to make so brazenly honest a statement about a program that benefits his own province so disproportionately.