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Sometimes, a politician will surprise you with his or knowledge about different topics.

At the annual Vaisakhi parade in South Vancouver, I ended up in a discussion about Jungian psychology with Vancouver Kingsway NDP incumbent Don Davies.

He mentioned that Conservative politicians often project parts of themselves that they won't acknowledge onto the opposition side of the House of Commons.

Famed 20th-century Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung would characterize this as an example of the "shadow".

Davies even mentioned that term, which refers to parts of ourselves that we repress in our unconscious minds.

Jung noted that we have a tendency to ascribe these personal inferiorities to others.

“The interesting thing I think about the Conservatives is the frequency with which they project their own deepest fears onto other people," Davies told me. "They accuse the opposition of being poor financial managers, yet they have the biggest deficits in Canadian history."

Don Davies looks at Conservative politicians through a Jungian lens.

He went on to say that Conservative politicians adopt a very moral tone on Canadians' personal interests, even though one of the prime minister's former advisers was carousing with young women who've been in the sex trade.

They're tough on crime, yet one of their own, former MP Rahim Jaffer, encountered some difficulties with the law.

"I think Carl Jung would have a field day with his analysis of the current right-wing politicians of this country,” Davies said with a smile.

Related article: Freud and Jung theorized about the unconscious; UBC researchers try to prove its existence

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.