Happy Canada Day?
Another Canada Day is upon us, and I wonder how many Canadians are celebrating the country that we have become.
Tens of thousands of terrorist-loving Hamas supporters are squatting on university campuses and trolling the streets seeking individual Jews and Jewish businesses and institutions to threaten and harass.
We have three levels of government that are not doing anything and who by their lack of action appear to be encouraging this behaviour. We have university administrators afraid to take action against these protesters, some of whom are actually students and others who are simply taking up space, and immigration authorities that are allowing foreign students to violate their visa regulations and participate in these activities.
We have a government mired in corruption charges and behaving as though nothing has happened. We have a former Defence Minister who is a Sikh who reportedly preferred to use Canadian forces to help Afghan Sikhs leave the country rather than Canadians and Afghans who serviced Canadian representatives in that country for years.
We have a Chair of the Canadian Human Rights Commission who is reportedly an antisemite.
We have a government that has tilted to the far left and is more focussed on satisfying the needs of fringe groups rather than in providing affordable housing and lower interest rates for all Canadians by reducing deficits and paying down the national debt.
We have an opposition leader who has been a professional politician since his early twenties and who has served as a cabinet minister during his time in government but who, in my eyes, has few accomplishments if any to his name despite his time in government.
The only noise he makes is attacking the government without providing a single idea worthy of consideration.
Canadian politicians in power today seem too focused on their personal interests first, their party’s interests second, and the interests of Canadians third.
Our political class is more interested in hurling insults than in working together to form a consensus to achieve the solutions that Canadians need.
We have Conservative-led provincial governments that refuse to implement many of the social programs the federal government has produced to enhance the delivery of health and education services.
Finally, we are witnessing the massive influx of immigrants whose backgrounds lead me to believe that they will have tremendous difficulty adapting to and respecting Canadian values. The uncontrolled inflow is also causing massive housing shortages and putting strain on all services leading to making life unaffordable for all Canadians especially our youth.
Radical Islamism appears to be finding a home in Canada, as seen by the exponential increase in antisemitism since October 7th and the massive seduction of our “best and brightest” students in our “elite” universities.
This is not the kind of Canada Day I celebrated when I first joined the diplomatic service in 1974, nor when I celebrated Canada Day with colleagues, fellow citizens, and foreign guests at embassies abroad.
This is a Canada Day full of nostalgia for a better time in our country’s history, a time when Prime Ministers and Opposition leaders like Lester Pearson, John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, and Jean Chretien worked in a system of governance that celebrated civility and respect for each other.
Can we hope to revert to this Canada?
Not with the political class we have today.
A political class in government that seeks to divide Canadians between income classes, between defending our sovereignty and bending to foreign influence, between upholding our long-established values or doing nothing as they are being attacked.
We deserve better, and we must demand better.
This can only happen if more people go out to vote and send strong messages like those sent in St. Paul’s riding by-election last week when the Conservatives won a traditionally Liberal riding.
Only then will our politicians listen, and Canada can once again shine above the political noise that deafens us today.
I know that Canadians have much to celebrate and much for which to be grateful despite the circus promoted by the current political class.
Let’s hold our politicians’ feet to the fire to ensure that our Canada of the past lasts long into the future.
Sadly, I have to agree with many of your points. The contest and conflict between individual rights, and the rights of the polity have never been clearer, and, as I see it, individual rights have taken over far too much of the field. The community itself has rights, and the individual has certain duties. These latter have been neglected and sacrificed on the altar of individual rights.
Eduardo, much of what you have written is true. However, I want to highlight some of the accomplishments by the Trudeau Government. We have the child care benefit which has had a positive impact in job creation and economic growth. The PM has supported progressive measures in favour of the environment. Even if we still have a lot to do, the Trudeau Government has been making progress towards Indigenous People.