Dimensions of an intensifying polycrisis
A critical policy discourse analysis exploring the cost-of-living crisis in Canada
Keywords:
cost-of-living crisis, Canada, critical policy discourse analysis, food insecurity, housing, inflation, polycrisisAbstract
In the face of rising inflation, increasing hunger, and intensifying inequalities, Canada, like countries elsewhere, is amidst a cost-of-living crisis. What is the arc of this inflationary turn? Some suggest broken supply chains after the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine triggered the crisis, while others argue that corporations have been riding the ‘inflation gravy train’, increasing their prices and reporting record profits while the average family is struggling to put food on the table. Applying the analytic tools of critical policy discourse analysis, this paper analyzes parliamentary speeches given by former prime minister Justin Trudeau to explore the various dimensions of the inflationary trend in Canada, including related food, housing, and cost-of-living crises and how these are (re)constituted and shaped by neoliberal forces. Given the interlinked architecture of the neoliberal world order, the crises emergent in Canada are not unique, but provide a useful study on how the polycrisis is unfolding globally. The paper urges state leaders to consider policy proposals that have the potential to tackle the systemic roots of crises.
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