I have before me an article written a few months ago by Leftist columnist Linda McQuaig excoriating Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for the heartlessness of his politics. In an attempt to define his “bleak vision” for Canada, she cites him as having said the following: “I’m very hesitant to spend taxpayers’ money on anything other than the core services of roads, bridges, police, military, border security and a safety net for those who can’t provide for themselves.” Inasmuch as we have socialized medicine in this country, I would add an efficient health care system to that list of basic services. Moreover I would suggest each of Poilievre’s priorities make unequivocal sense. A well-maintained physical infrastructure and the defence of law abiding citizens from both criminals and foreign invaders would seem essential services provided by any efficient government. What appalls McQuaig, of course, is Poilievre’s seeming indifference to the sacred standards of DEI, his indifference, that is, to the fact that in 2021 “the richest .001 per cent saw their incomes grow on average by a stunning 30 per cent to $12.5 million a year, while the incomes of 14 million working Canadians actually declined…”
Now it is a simple fact that if you have millions to invest, your income is likely to grow radically faster than those who do not. This makes perfect sense within our Capitalist system. The Left in general, of course, loathes Capitalism. Inasmuch as it is designed to facilitate “free enterprise,” it is subject to abuse. This is a sad given of human nature. But while our governments must do their best to curb such abuse, what people like McQuaig resent are the inevitable disparities born of Freedom itself. It is apparently appalling that the rich are blessed with the ability to readily increase their wealth even if they do so legally and ethically. Bizarrely, MaQuaig suggests Poilievre’s commitment to providing “core services” for Canadians constitutes an attempt to “redesign” our Democracy. The implication is that intrusive government measures geared to enforce the arbitrary statistical parity endorsed by the Left, has always been a feature of Western Democracies. It is a brazen lie. Poilievre is in fact intent on re-establishing the Freedoms we used to take for granted before “progressives” became addicted to what is little more than a form of religious fanaticism. [i.e: If 12% of a population is Purple, then 12% of every board of governors must be Purple.]
A few newspaper headlines will serve to illustrate the repercussions of “progressives” who refuse to prioritize those core services to which Poilievre is so devoted: The National Post, July, 2023: “Violent crime up in Canada; murders highest in 30 years.” The Post once again, Sept, 2024: “Violence sparks mayor’s call to close safe injection site, dismantle camp.” My hometown Hamilton Spectator, Aug., 2024: “Hamilton police triples size of downtown patrol unit amid mounting safety concerns.”
Many N. American cities are experiencing epidemics of lawlessness primarily because of such idiotic Leftist initiatives as the “defund” the police movement a couple of years ago. Small business owners are being vandalized on a daily basis while violent crime is equally out of control. Yet one repeatedly reads of those who have been arrested dozens of times only to be released by our liberal courts! If they have been released simply because there are not sufficient prison cells to accommodate them, than Build More Prisons! If they have been released out of compassion, then I must question the stupidity of compassion for recidivist criminals over empathy for decent, law-abiding citizens. Whatever the reasons for the decline of the Rule of Law in our Western Democracies, addressing this problem ought to be a priority of any rational government.
In the quote cited by McQuaig, Poilievre pledged his commitment to maintaining our country’s infrastructure [roads, bridges, etc.]. Are not taxpayers entitled to such basic services? Is it not absurd that in Hamilton a significant number of major thoroughfares are little more than rubble? Is it not absurd that Canada’s hospitals, even before Covid struck, were and still are woefully understaffed, that waiting times for certain services are putting peoples’ lives at risk? Is it not absurd that our borders are utterly vulnerable to foreign invaders? Is it not absurd that there are homeless encampments everywhere in my hometown consisting of many who are clearly mentally ill? A friend who used to let his kids play in a particular park on a regular basis now no longer does so for fear of what might befall them. Out of concern for those sleeping in tents in sub zero temperatures, and the parks and neighbourhoods they have infested, ought not our governments to be spending the millions necessary to provide them with shelter, while at the same time simply arresting those who insist on continuing to occupy public property? Each of the aforementioned issues would seem to involve core services which our governments are generally failing to provide. And yet deficits in many Western nations are out of control! What, one must ask, are our “progressive” leaders doing with the millions of dollars extracted from their citizens each and every day?
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says the interest on Canada’s debt this year will be approximately 54 billion dollars. That’s only slightly less than 1 billion per week, an amount that in no way actually reduces the debt! As an example of the sort of expenditures it sees as insane, the CTF pointed out a couple of days ago that over 57 billion taxpayer dollars have been given by Trudeau and, oddly, Ontario’s “conservative” premier, to companies in the process of developing the Electric Vehicles we will all apparently be driving in 10 to 20 years. Similar expenditures have been made by Biden in the U.S.. But if profits are to be made from such vehicles, there are no doubt capitalists out there eager to finance such endeavours. What leads governments to leap into this fray, of course, is their belief that they have been elected to solve all the world’s problems, including that of Global Warming. While this may seem a laudable viewpoint, however, it is definitively anti-democratic in that it makes all citizens mere pawns in the machinations of government. The notion of Personal Freedom becomes but a “right wing” delusion. Hence the arrogance of Leftist ideologues such as Linda McQuaig who sees Pierre Poilievre’s concern for the everyday needs of his constituents as an abomination. Hence the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars by “progressive” governments on initiatives designed to insure that their demonstrably arbitrary definition of Social Justice is realized, even as they ignore the needs of the millions of decent people who elected them, people being victimized by a pandemic of crime, undefended borders, inadequate health care [here in Canada, at least], crumbling infrastructures, etc., etc.. My point is simply that the oft repeated charge that “conservatives” represent a dire threat to our Democracies, is literally insane!
You are no doubt aware of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in which he defines Democracies as governments of the people, by the people and for the people. Bizarrely, our Leftist Elitists see “the people,” many of whom might vote for Trump, as just so many simpletons who need to be suppressed. Yet they see themselves as the champions of Democracy!