不久前，加拿大財長方慧蘭(Chrystia Freeland)在一次公開采訪中，試圖用她個人的事例來表達加拿大人對生活成本的擔憂，結果非但沒有得到成效，還遭到大批民眾的批評。
圖源：National Post
據加通社報道，方慧蘭在去年11月6日播出的《環球新聞》采訪中說：“就我個人而言，作為一個母親和妻子，我每個月都會仔細查看我的信用卡賬單，上周日我對孩子們說，‘你們現在長大了。不再看迪斯尼了，“我們取消Disney Plus的訂閱吧。”
她接著說：“我認為我需要對聯邦政府的財政采取完全相同的方法，因為那是加拿大人的錢。”
圖源：Twitter@cafreeland
報道稱，也許財長的話是想表明，管理4300億元的預算與處理家庭事務並沒有那麽大的不同。
但是這段視頻在全國播出後，短短幾天內就有近100萬次的觀看，人們的憤怒也隨之爆發。
加通社根據《信息獲取法》獲得財長辦公室收到的電子郵件顯示，這讓她成為數千人眼中的惡棍。
其中一封郵件說：“這個建議就像嬰兒潮一代告訴年輕人，如果他們不吃牛油果吐司，就能買得起房子一樣。”
一些評論認為，財長試圖拉近與民眾的做法沒有達到目的，就像《阿拉丁》(Aladdin)中茉莉公主(Princess Jasmine)參觀市場時遇到的不那麽像皇室的生活方式一樣。
留言指責方慧蘭“自鳴得意”、“精英主義”、“無知”和“自以為是”。
圖源：Twitter@cafreeland
還有人指責財長低估了Disney Plus平台提供的服務。“上麵不僅有迪士尼電影，你實際上剝奪了孩子們的機會。”
這位人士還說，“我們都知道，你們實際上都負擔得起。”
聯邦內閣部長今年的收入超過28.9萬元。另一方麵，根據加拿大統計局的數據，2020年安省家庭收入中位數為7.95萬元。
有人寫信說，他們已經停掉了Disney Plus，想知道如何“取消我那部分的CBC補貼”。加拿大廣播公司在2022年獲得12億元的政府資金，相當於每個加拿大人每年30元。
其他人則沒有那麽諷刺，但是他們指出：“貧窮不是一種選擇。”
一封電子郵件敦促政府更好地管理通脹。
“如果你不知道該怎麽做，我能否謙卑地建議你的辦公室考慮一種更激進的方法來監管食品雜貨行業飆升的利潤？”
另一位自稱是殘疾單身母親的人寫道，她有時不吃東西，以確保10歲的兒子有東西吃。“對於那些真正在掙紮的人來說，這絕對是一記耳光。”
“就像我告訴我兒子的那樣：說話前要三思。”
圖源：Twitter@cafreeland
也有人為方慧蘭辯護，在電子郵件中說，他們也切斷了這個電視頻道，還有美容、旅行和手機等其他東西。他們認為：“通貨膨脹意味著生活方式必須改變！”
去年11月7日，也就是財長就秋季經濟報告接受了一係列采訪的第二天，財政部一名負責媒體監控的官員在一封電子郵件中寫道，在兩天的時間裏，有1.3萬次提到方慧蘭和Disney Plus，“都是負麵的”。
第二天，方慧蘭就收回了自己的言論，她對記者說：“和其他民選的聯邦領導人一樣，我的薪水非常高，我知道這讓我處於一個非常非常特權的地位。”
Once upon a time, Chrystia Freeland attempted to relate to Canadians’ cost-of-living concerns with a personal anecdote — and it didn’t produce a fairy-tale ending.
“I personally, as a mother and wife, look carefully at my credit card bill once a month, and last Sunday I said to the kids, ‘You’re older now. You don’t watch Disney anymore. Let’s cut that Disney Plus subscription,”‘ Freeland told Global News in an interview that aired on Nov. 6.
She went on to say: “I believe that I need to take exactly the same approach with the federal government’s finances, because that’s the money of Canadians.”
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Maybe Freeland meant to show that managing a $430-billion budget is not all that different from handling a household one.
But as word of the clip spread throughout the land, and was viewed nearly a million times in just a couple of days, so did outrage.
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Emails sent to her office and obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information law show that Freeland’s attempt to connect with Canadians made her a villain to thousands.
“This advice is about as wise as boomers telling younger folks if only they skipped the avocado toast then they could afford a house,” said one person. The names of the senders are redacted in the documents.
Some commenters felt the minister’s attempt to blend in missed the mark, like when Princess Jasmine visited the market in “Aladdin” and encountered a less-royal way of life.
Messages accused Freeland of being “smug,” “elitist,” “clueless” and “entitled.”
One person accused her of underestimating the platform’s offerings. “There is more than just Disney movies on Disney Plus, so you are actually depriving your children of the things their friends might watch.”
The person added that Freeland was doing so “when we all know you can easily afford that.”
Federal cabinet ministers will earn just over $289,000 this year. The median household income in Ontario in 2020 was $79,500, according to Statistics Canada.
Someone wrote to say they’d already cut Disney Plus and wanted to know how to “cancel my portion of the CBC subsidy.” CBC’s $1.2 billion in government funding in 2022 works out to about $30 per Canadian per year.
Others were less sarcastic, noting that “poverty is not a choice.”
One email urged the government to better manage inflation.
“If you are out of ideas on how I do this, might I humbly suggest your office consider a more aggressive approach to regulating the skyrocketing profits in the grocery industry?”
Another writer, who described herself as a single mother on disability, said that she sometimes goes without food to ensure that her 10-year-old son doesn’t.
“That was an absolute slap in the face to people who are truly struggling,” she wrote.
“Like I tell my son: You need to think before you speak.”
One would-be knight in shining armour did come to Freeland’s defence, emailing to say they, too, had cut out TV channels — along with beauty treatments, travel and cellphones, among other things.
They argued: “Inflation means lifestyles must be changed!”
Staff in the Finance Department did a social media scan on Nov. 7, the day after Freeland’s series of interviews about the fall economic statement.
Over two days, there were 13,000 mentions of Freeland and Disney Plus, and “coverage was predominantly negative,” an official in charge of media monitoring wrote in an email.
A word cloud graphic attached to the email showed the phrases “tone-deaf” and “high inflation” featured prominently.
Freeland walked back her remark the next day, telling reporters that “Like other elected federal leaders, I am paid a really significant salary, and I know that that puts me in a really, really privileged position.”
Her office did not respond to questions this week about the feedback she received, instead pointing to her comments in the Nov. 7 press conference.
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland arrives to a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. PHOTO BY SEAN KILPATRICK /The Canadian Press
