What we're talking about, and not talking about, when we talk about 'elites'

Pity the poor elite, so dismissed and scorned these days by the righteous politician.

"The media and the elite don't care about your values," the Kellie Leitch campaign declared this week.

Leitchhas made the elitethe central focus of her campaign for the Conservative Party's leadership. But her competitors have expressed similar disdain.

In a speech Thursday, Lisa Raitt took a hard line on the elitists in our midst.

"If you think it is good fun to look down your nose at the simple folk from other places, like Cape Breton, to traffic in stereotypes, to seal yourself off in a bubble of your own superiority, to declare yourself to be part of the elite and to look down with contempt on those who don't share your values, well, there is a party for you," she said."But it's not the Conservative Party."

Maxime Bernier has warned that "political elites" would oppose his views on the telecom sector and he invoked Brexit to explain how his success would send a message to the "bureaucratic elites" in Ottawa.

Brad Trost has suggested that within the Conservative Party there are "party elites" who aren't willing to sell the CBC.

In 2016, the eliteare an easy target forblame, a rallying cry anda handy tool of distraction.

From Ford to Brexit to Trump to ... Leitch?

Popular displeasure withsociety's elitehas been linked to the year's greatest political upheavals:the Brexit vote in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. Years earlier, there was Rob Ford's triumph over the "downtown elite" to become mayor of Toronto.

"I think what the message was that was delivered was that there's this growing gulf between the average guy and gal on the street and what's happening amongst media and political elites," Leitch said on CBC Radio's Sunday Edition two weeks ago, speaking of Trump's victory.

"What I want to do is I want to make sure that every average Canadian out there, every guy and gal on the street in Collingwood or Alliston, Abbotsford or Fort McMurray, Alberta, my hometown, knows that they have someone that will be their voice."

The elite apparently don'treside in such places (or at least don't deign to walk the streets there).

The non-elite, meanwhile, aremost easily identified by their use of relatable terms like "guy" and "gal."

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Leitch'sreference to the eliteis not to be understood as a measure ofstatus, success, schooling, social circle, power, influenceor skill.

If it was,the word would almost certainly have to apply to Leitch, an accomplished doctor and former cabinet minister whose official biography describes her as "among the best of her generation."

Rather,for her,"elite" is a matter of attitude.

"I define elite as an individual who is out of touch and seems to think they know better how someone should think," she toldSunday Edition.

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Ms. Leitch, a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative party, says immigrants to Canada should be questioned to see if they hold "Canadian values".

Meaning of elite attacks

On a basic level, this seemsmerely away for conservatives (those who believe government should have as little involvement as possible in the affairs of man) to criticize progressives (those who tend to think the government can use policies and social programs to have a positive influence).

As rhetoric, there is an obvious appeal to stand against a domineering class that would impose its tasteson the public and mock any who dare question its judgment.

But, as a social construct, the suggestion of a divide between elites and non-elites might go to real questions within modern Western societies about identity, class, dislocation, inequality, inclusion, globalization, social and economic change, andthe effectiveness of public institutions.

I define elite as an individual who is out of touch and seems to think they know better how someone should think.- KellieLeitch

And progressives, who want to do more with public resources, might need to be particularly concerned if large numbers of people are feeling alienated or cynical.

But invoking "elites" can also meanemploying the same kind of dismissive stereotyping that Raittdecries.

"You worked with your hands. You needed to get dirty. Not a lot of snowboard jobs or drama teacher jobs," Raitt said on Thursday, invoking her upbringing in Nova Scotia while taking a swipe at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"I never forget that Canada's success, although I've been in the corporate boardrooms,was not built in thoseboardrooms, it wasn't built at celebrity galas, it wasn't built in a faculty club," she said later.

Raitt also explained that, to her, "the promise of Canada is rooted in onesimple fact ...that here nobody gets to look down on you."

Unless you'rea drama teacher.

Sidestepping important questions

In a speech eight years ago, Stephen Harper offered a notably direct version of the sort of anti-elite appeal that is now casually made.

Canadians, he said,were worried about "unacceptably high levels of crime."

But "the ivory tower experts, thetut-tuttingcommentators" and"the out-of-touch politicians" made excuses for criminals and deniedcrime was even a problem. "Your personal experiences and impressions are wrong," they apparently told Canadians.

A member of the elite might be expected to denounce this as anti-intellectual demagoguery that ignores the long-term decline of crime in Canada and the relative security of individual Canadians.

But those complaints would have sidestepped the real questions about Harper's approach to justice policy: Why were Canadians scared? What was he proposing to address the concerns of Canadians? And would those measures significantly reduce the threat of crime?

• ANALYSIS|Reaching for the top while bashing theelites
• Trudeau'sfight with the forces ofBrexitand Donald Trump

Raitt has condemned Trudeau's climate policies specifically a national price on carbon and an accelerated phase out of coal-fired electricity as arrogant andimplemented without regard for the people who will be impacted by higher prices.

But without aclimate change policy of her own, Raittisn't offering a complete answer.

Meanwhile, Leitchhas somehow made it this far without quite explaining how her signature policy screening all visitors and potential immigrants to Canada for "Canadian values" would work or what problem it is meant to address.

Asked two Sundays ago to explain what questions would be asked, Leitch, who first floated this proposal 2months ago, said it'sa long campaign and she didn't want to get into "process conversations."

That, oddly enough, sounds like something an elite might say to avoid having to explain herself.