Is it any wonder that so many politicians have shown such a zeal for draconian restrictions in within our borders, but are still so lax on stopping people from bringing the virus in?
Often times, oversimplification is a negative thing.
This is a world full of nuance, and trying to package everything into neat little categories leaves much out.
However, there are times when simplification can help to clarify a relevant truth.
And in this case, that truth is that there fundamentally two kinds of politicians:
Those who see public service as a way to defend the rights and freedoms of those they serve, and those who see public service as an opportunity to exercise power and reshape people’s lives.
As you are probably already thinking, this past year has shown there are far too many of the latter kind of politician, and far too few of the former.
And that brings us to this clip of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland:
“and Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance will ensure that COVID will be used to further the Trudeau Liberals’ political agenda”
https://twitter.com/inklessPW/status/1381277106177335303
Freeland here was talking about the upcoming budget and the Liberal political agenda, which includes large – and permanent – spending increases, the expansion of government, and a move towards the centralization of childcare under federal control.
What’s interesting to note is how Freeland mentions the ‘window’ of opportunity, showing even she recognizes many people will soon go back to wanting balanced budgets and some fiscal responsibility.
Particularly, many people believed politicians like Freeland who repeatedly cast the extraordinary spending we’ve seen in the past year as ’emergency’ and ‘temporary’ measures.
Indeed, we are seeing politicians simultaneously claim that the economy is going to come roaring back, while also saying massive and permanent expansions of government spending are needed.
It doesn’t make logical sense, but logic isn’t the strong suit of those in power right now.
Exploiting a crisis
Beyond the concerning fact that the Liberal government is embarking on dangerous expansions of debt and deficits – policies that are being enabled by the Bank of Canada preventing interest rates from rising, there is also the excitement politicians like Freeland seem to have in exploiting this crisis to push their political agenda.
As Tracey Wilson accurately summed up on Twitter, it’s a ‘heartless’ and ‘cold’ way of thinking:
“My god. Lives & livelihoods lost, suicide, substance abuse and domestic violence through the roof. People dying alone, the economy in shambles, failed vaccine procurement, misery and this woman calls it “a window of political opportunity”. Heartless, cold, pathetic opportunist”
https://twitter.com/TWilsonOttawa/status/1381438581936377857
Millions of Canadians have wanted nothing more than for life to return to normal.
Instead, the Liberals – at a time when Canada is lagging behind most of our peer nations – are pushing for the imposition of their big-spending agenda, desperate to use the ‘window of political opportunity’ before fear starts to fade away.
Why is the virus still allowed to enter through the airports?
Now, this is a point on which I have to struggle not to get quite angry, because the more you think about it the more absurd and downright disturbing it seems.
Consider that at a time when we are again seeing people across the country being put into lockdowns, schools shut, more businesses ruined, curfews imposed, churches treated like crime scenes, and more and more freedoms restricted, the virus is still entering through our airports in large numbers:
“Covid-sick passengers continue to pour into B.C. and Canada. The Covid traveler positivity rate amounts to about 50 Covid-positive travelers arriving in Canada every day between Feb. 22 and April 6. And many aren’t bothering to quarantine.”
Covid-sick passengers continue to pour into B.C. and Canada. The Covid traveler positivity rate amounts to about 50 Covid-positive travelers arriving in Canada every day between Feb. 22 and April 6. And many aren't bothering to quarantine. https://t.co/vRGDCO950K
— Terry Glavin 格立文 (@TerryGlavin) April 12, 2021
Just sit back and think about this in your head for a bit.
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We are supposed to accept huge restrictions on our freedom and a complete upheaval of our lives – with politicians making the Charter of Rights & Freedoms look like a piece of scrap paper, all for the goal of ‘stopping the virus and saving lives.’
Meanwhile, people with the virus can get on a plane halfway around the world, fly to Canada, walk into one of our airports, get in a cab, walk around, spread the virus, undo the work of all the sacrifices people have made, and then have that new spread of the virus be used by those same politicians to ‘justify’ even further draconian measures.
It’s simply sickening.
And the fact that more people haven’t pushed back on this – and that many seem blissfully unaware of it – doesn’t bode well for this country.
It seems many politicians have taken the measure of the Canadian People, and found that a large number are willing to overlook this rampant hypocrisy and lack of logic, so long as politicians keep pumping out the fear.
The lax border and ports of entry – which has been weak the entire pandemic – combined with the draconian restrictions within the country, raises the question of whether there are some politicians who are now so drunk with power that they don’t want the crisis to end.
Politicians have gone from figures of ridicule in many instances, to now being able to on TV everyday, in a constant crisis atmosphere, with millions hanging on their every word, and the power to spend and arrest and restrict in a way they never thought possible.
When it’s over, people will start looking into the mistakes, the corruption, and restrictions of freedom, the weakness at the border, and will start really wondering why we ever trusted those in power. While some will still be locked into the fear-based desire to have politicians ‘protect’ them from the freedom of others, some will wake up.
And that’s the last thing those in power want.
Fear is like a fog, and right now many are lost in the fog.
Politicians seem to be offering a way out, a way that demands the sacrifice of many of the freedoms we thought were ironclad.
But just as every fog lifts, so will this moment of fear, and those who sought to exploit this crisis to expand government power and control have shown themselves to be the very last people who should have that power in the first place.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
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