2021 Canadian Federal Election – Part 4: Remaining Key Points

On September 3rd, the National Post published a table from a Leger poll which indicated the issues identified by Canadian voters as most and least important to them.

The largest number of respondents (13.5%) chose “cost of living’ while the fewest respondents (2.2%) chose immigration. All of these numbers are low and there is little consensus on what the major issues are. Given the many closed businesses, the huge transformation in the types of jobs available during a pandemic, and the uncertainty how the pandemic constraints will play out, it is not surprising that how we’re going to survive financially is on everyone’s mind.

In Part 1 of these posts, I identified the four issues or topics of particular concern to me in the upcoming election. I have written about preserving our freedoms and securing our oil and gas supply, but I have neglected the middle two, primarily because these concerns do not seem to register on the radar of any of the political parties. Yet I think they are very important. Here is the list again.

• Preserving our basic freedoms
• Keeping the government from interfering in our lives
• Preserving the history and accomplishments of Canada in particular, and western civilization in general
• Maintaining Canadian energy independence and, particularly, preserving the strength and viability of the Canadian oil and gas sector

It’s noteworthy that none of the topics that mattered most to me as a voter, were chosen by Leger for their poll list. At least basic freedoms and preserving our oil and gas sector has been addressed by two of the main parties. So why are points two and three important?

Keeping the government from interfering in our lives

It has been at least a multi-decade trend that our governments increasingly interfere with our lives. From my perspective I our governments increasingly:

• Regulating what we watch on TV or listen to on the radio
• Controlling our eating habits
• Controlling what topics we can debate and change by voting, so that some changes that have been voted in can no longer be voted out
• Educating our children by training them what to think, rather than training them how to think

These past eighteen months, I have seen this interfering trend accelerate. Certainly part of this acceleration has been the pandemic measures that had an invasive impact our personal lives such as:

• when and who must wear masks
• the number of people we can have in our homes, our gatherings, and even our church meetings
• a movement toward coercing people to get vaccinated even if they prefer to take their chances with a Covid-19 infection or because they believe they are at risk of being harmed by the vaccine

But the government has also been working to be invasive in other ways

• restricting what news programs we can watch because they claim some news organization distribute misinformation (isn’t it my job to determine that?)
• limiting some experts from sharing their analyses on Covid-19 because they differ from the government’s directives (shouldn’t the government permit disagreement as long as both sides talk about data and statistics?)
• the government is increasingly taking on the role as an omniscient mind reader because they pretend to determine what speech is motivated by hate, and so, it is becoming increasingly arbitrary what assertions are out of bounds in discourse

Preserving the history and accomplishments of Canada in particular and western civilization in general

If one travels extensively abroad, one realizes rather quickly the privilege and benefits we have had in growing up in Canada. We have had access to education. Our parents have had a major say in our education and they have been permitted to pass on their convictions to us. We have been able to start our own businesses and manage our investments. We have been able to vote and even begin new parties when the existing ones no longer serve their constituents.

These benefits are part of our identity, and have been strongly influenced by our fore-bearers. Our history (both Canadian and European) have strongly influenced the institutions we value (democracy, parliament, rule of law, independent courts). From where I sit, we no longer transmit these realities to our children. Indeed, I have never before seen the intensity of the self-loathing for our history and institutions that is now commonly expressed in news media and even in educational materials.

These trends are not only damaging, but unjust. We have not walked in the shoes of the Fathers of Confederation, yet we condemn them anyway. We deface and damage statues and somehow the rule of law is not enforced.

I find this very troubling and look to vote for those who least support this troubling trend.