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Since two years before the 2015 federal election, the Liberal theme has been being the middle class’s best friends. They were going to rob from the rich and give – not to the poor – but to us.

And there was, indeed, a lowering of the tax rate on the middle class in the Liberals’ first budget in 2016.

But the federal Liberal government has also ended so many middle-class tax deductions, such as hockey and soccer fees and dance class tuition, that the average middle-class family is now paying taxes nearly $1,000 a year higher than when the Harper Tories were in power.

Only about 55% of us consider ourselves middle class, down from over 70% just 15 years ago.

Left-leaning academics tell us this is because the gap between rich and poor is growing. That myth is repeated by pandering politicians such as Trudeau and Morneau who want us to turn to government as the middle class’s saviour.

But government is the problem. It’s not the One Percenters who’ve taxed away any economic or fiscal gain we’ve earned in the past two decades.

And it’s going to be the same with the new focus on “gender equity.” The push will make government larger – more government will be needed to police new equity rules.

At the same time, there will be no appreciable increase in the size of the economy (or our slices of it). Indeed, the “gender equity” campaign will probably increase the average Canadian’s tax burden, making us feel even less middle class than we do now.

I’d have some respect for the gender-equity strategy if it were a purely cynical ploy to attract Liberal votes for the next federal election expected in the fall of 2019.