Canada: Right or Left?

One of the reasons I enjoy writing articles is the feedback that I get from readers. Often, this feedback provides me with the inspiration to write an article in response, and this is no exception.

A former colleague whose intelligence I respect opined that I had become like the Tower of Pisa – inexorably tilted to the right.

My reply is the following.

I feel that I have always been at the center of the political spectrum. During my life, I have oscillated between voting for the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives, depending on the policies each party offered.

In my view, that Canada no longer exists.

The average voter today has a choice between a Liberal Party that has moved far to the left and a Conservative Party that has moved far to the right.

The current Liberal government supports and funds policies that often make no sense given their high costs or focus on the aspirations of a select few. The results are massive deficits and an unmanageable debt load.

Prime Minister Trudeau caters to the fringes at the Canadian left at the expense of what is good for Canada. His party has gone from the common-sense positions of the past to the politically correct positions of his New Democratic Party allies who sustain him in power. And remaining in power appears to many voters to be his prime objective, at a high cost to current and future voters.

His immigration policies have destroyed the fine balance between receiving the immigrants Canada needs to sustain and enhance economic growth and ensuring that services like housing and health care can meet the requirements of all Canadians.

As well, his decision to accept refugees from Gaza possibly with little or no vetting is disturbing for those of us who seek an immigration policy that underscores the security of Canadians as a fundamental guiding light.

His social policies now border on the ridiculous.

When I visited the men’s room at the Canadian Embassy in Madrid a few weeks ago I was astounded to find it well stocked with Tampax and other feminine hygiene articles – a ridiculous waste of money and a reflection as to how far political correctness has gone at taxpayer expense.

Canada’s military is a joke.

Funding has been scarce throughout Trudeau’s term in office, and Canada is at the low end of military spending essential in these times of geopolitical turmoil. It comes nowhere near to meeting it’s NATO commitments, an issue not lost on its allies.  

His government has been riddled with corruption costing taxpayers billions of dollars – and yet, we are still waiting for the authorities to investigate these allegations, charge those responsible at any level of government, and prove to Canadians that our legal system works for all.

Normally, this would impel me to vote for the Conservative opposition in the next election.

But I cannot.

Today’s Conservative Party has no relationship with the centrist and rational Progressive Conservative Party of the past.

Its leader, Pierre Poilievre, does not appear to be a good person, catering to the extreme right wing of the party and engaging with disreputable individuals, both Canadian and American, who are trying to import Trumpian politics into Canada.

To date, he has not proposed any policy alternatives for which I could vote other than hatred of Trudeau and his policies. To me, opposition to the Prime Minister is not a reason to vote for Poilievre’s lack of political maturity and substance.

Thus, for many Canadian voters, Canada is indeed broken.

Regardless of how many times Canada is voted globally as the best country in which to live, Canadian voters who seek a clean and rational government, an economy that works for all, and policies based on common sense rather than political correctness seem to have no viable political choice in the next election.

Both leaders are divisive, and their parties support divisiveness over working together to create the policies and programs that have broad support.

William Butler Yeats once wrote “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”.

The center in Canada doesn’t appear to be holding.

Is there any remedy?

Not with both party leaders determined to stay their course.

Not with the more rational heads in each party silent in the face of their leader’s excesses and divisiveness.

Not without alternative potential leaders ready and willing to step up to the plate and offer their parties and Canadian voters a rational and attractive alternative that can appeal to a broad swathe of voters at the center of the political spectrum.

From my perspective, Canada appears caught between two ideological poles neither of which appeals to me.

So no, my dear readers, I am not leaning to the right or the left.

I am at the center of a political spectrum whose poles have moved to the extreme right and extreme left with little acceptable choice for those of us at the center of the political spectrum.

As the 70’s rock group Stealers Wheel sang, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you”.

Are you also stuck in the center with no realistic option?