There are many ways to tell a story.
For Trish Hennessy, Ontario director at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, one way is to look at the most searched word annually for the on-line Mirriam-Webster dictionary.
Speaking last night at the Whitby Courthouse Theatre to a group of Durham-region New Democrats, Hennessy noted that in 2010 the most searched word was “austerity.” A year later it was “pragmatism.” In 2012 there was a tie between “socialism” and “capitalism.”
“Clearly something is shifting,” she said.
Many young people are being left out of the post-recession recovery and are now questioning the economic and political system that is denying them their place in society.
Hennessy says Ontario is practicing a self-defeating logic with its austerity policies. While the Wynne government cuts jobs and freezes wages, they simultaneously expect there to be a consumer-driven economic recovery. How does that take place when for the majority wages are stagnant or in decline?