Four years ago, almost to the day, we enthusiastically urged voters to back Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. It was high time, we said, to choose a “strong, hopeful alternative” after almost 10 years of regressive Conservative rule. It was an easy choice.

Today, we make the same recommendation for Monday’s election. Trudeau and the Liberals have accomplished important things since 2015. And they offer the best program for continuing in that positive direction over the next four years.

But we say this in full knowledge that the Liberals of 2019, and their leader in particular, have fallen short of the bright shiny promise they held out in the last campaign.

The Liberals promised an awful lot back then, too much in fact. They created huge expectations for change and it’s no surprise that they disappointed a lot of people. Some will never forgive them, for example, for backing off on electoral reform.

And then of course there’s the leader himself. Trudeau stumbled badly at times — notably in his dress-up tour of India and in his shaky handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. His brownface/blackface admissions cast serious doubt on his personal judgment.

Yet, despite the failings of the Liberals, this is the time to focus on what’s truly important in the long run.

And there, the Liberal government can legitimately boast that it has a solid track record on the key issues of our time: making sure more people share in prosperity, defending Canada’s interests, and putting the country on the right road to dealing with climate change.

Begin with the Liberals’ stewardship of the economy. Overall, Canada is booming, with robust growth, the lowest unemployment in 40 years and rising wages. The Liberals would surely get the blame if we were in recession; they deserve credit for good times.

At the same time, the government made a fundamental choice at the beginning of its mandate to make sure the wealth is more evenly shared. It cut taxes on the middle class, raised them on the wealthy and directed a lot more support to families with the new Canada Child Benefit.

All that made a huge difference in the lives of many people, especially those on low incomes. The child benefit, in particular, is a key reason why more than 800,000 people, including some 300,000 children, have escaped poverty over the past few years. This is no small thing; it simply wouldn’t have happened if the Conservatives had remained in power and put austerity ahead of people.

The Liberals had to navigate a world that became a lot more uncertain and dangerous since 2015. To their great credit, and sometimes to their cost, they leaned against the populist trend on sensitive issues like immigration.

And when Donald Trump attacked Canada’s prosperity by threatening to tear up NAFTA, the government skilfully defended our essential interests. Even Brian Mulroney, an old negotiator and a Conservative to boot, credits them for that.

On climate change, the Liberals are pursuing the most ambitious plan this country has ever had. They’re persisting in the fight and not backing away from imposing a tax on carbon, despite fierce resistance from a coterie of Conservative premiers. It’s politically difficult, but it’s the right thing to do.

Could they, should they, do more? Of course. But on the big issues, the Liberals got the direction right over the past four years.

But what about the next four? The Liberals’ platform this time is too cluttered with micro promises for our liking (all the parties are playing that game), but it promises to build on their most important accomplishments.

Their key tax break would benefit the lowest-earners the most, the middle class a bit less, and those in the highest tax bracket (over $210,000 a year) not at all. That’s as it should be.

A re-elected Liberal government would also add to the child benefit that has been so vital to reducing poverty. It would finally put a tax on Big Tech companies that haven’t been paying their share. And, very importantly, it would stick to its plan to reduce carbon emissions, including increasing the “carbon tax” over the next four years. All this makes sense.

And consider the alternatives. With all due respect to the NDP and Greens, they aren’t going to form a government.

The NDP may well do better than expected this time, based on Jagmeet Singh’s positive showing in the campaign, but its platform contains problematic elements. Its pledge to kill the Trans Mountain pipeline, for example, amounts to abandoning Alberta at potentially enormous cost to national unity.

No, the real alternative is a Conservative government led by a prime minister Andrew Scheer. Under Scheer, the Conservatives have moderated their tone from the later years of Stephen Harper’s rule. But the platform they released late last Friday shows how deeply they would cut to balance the budget in five years.

They would slash $18 billion from infrastructure spending, killing or delaying badly needed projects across the country. They would cut deeply in spending on government operations, a promise reminiscent of Doug Ford’s pledge to cut “fat.” We know how that’s turning out in Ontario.

Under Scheer, the Conservatives would lurch to the right in foreign affairs. And, crucially, they would throw the government into reverse when it comes to effective action on climate change — just at the time when we need to go faster.

That’s the basic choice voters face this year. For all their faults, only the Liberals offer a realistic plan to keep making progress on the most important issues. They deserve voters’ support.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2019/10/16/liberals-are-the-best-choice-for-canada.html