Recognizing the truth

After my column last week I received some feedback. A reader took exception, saying the “column  should have been more balanced”. I agree, the column should have been better written.

The reader went on to say, “Yes, people need to be careful about where they get their news in the social media, but even more so from the main steam media. The CBC, Global, and CTV are not only one-sided and biased, but also corrupt in taking it upon themselves to report what people say when they never said it. I believe we are in a position where only God can fix this mess. People need to get their heads out of the sand.”

The reader went on to attach a link that clearly shows that CTV did a very obvious “cut and paste” on a speech by Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Official Opposition. 

This past week, the Conservative Party of Canada held their convention.

Pierre Poilievre made his convention speech, the party had the leadership review vote. Pierre came out of that vote with over 87 per cent approval. 

In the run-up to the vote, mainstream media such as the CBC, bent over backwards to weave as much doom and gloom into the narrative. It was quite funny to watch actually. Their predictions were all over the map and included conjecture that more CPC MPs might cross to the Liberals. That may happen, but polls show that 51 percent of Canadians believe it is unethical.At the CPC convention, a young woman named Jasmin Laine spoke. It was an intriguing speech and I would encourage everyone to listen to it. You can find her speech online by simply typing her name in the search engine.

Laine said politics isn’t about Right and Left, it’s about right and wrong. Perhaps her pun is intended, but she is correct in the number of ways she points out that current left-wing policies are wrong. She went on to explain that in truth there is freedom. I think we heard that somewhere before. It’s in the Bible and it was often quoted by Gary Doer when he was Premier of Manitoba. Laine maintains that current liberal polices in Canada today are designed to keep our citizens fearful and hopeless. Much of what we  are fed in the media is full of fear, anxiety and hopelessness. 

Government policies have built up so many regulations that it’s tough to build anything from streets and highways to houses to pipelines and manufacturing facilities. Pierre Poilievre is correct on many points but there’s one that ranks highest in my mind and that the government needs to get out of the way. Government permit processes are ridiculous. It takes five years to get all the government agencies to approve a simple housing sub-division. I know this because I have watched it happen in my  hometown of Neepawa. 

On another front, government doesn’t need to control guns, they need to control criminals. Governments shouldn’t be handing out drugs, they need to take addicts off the streets and place them in proper institutions. If they can’t, or won’t get off drugs, let them stay in an institution where they are less likely to harm themselves or others. I would also suggest that there are many government programs that need to be phased out. Industries such as dairy, poultry, gas and oil, many manufacturing pieces and yes, even news media organizations, are subsidized. That needs to be phased out gradually as dependency has been built into the systems and it would be jarring to cut off programs immediately. Grants are now just a way of life and subsidies simply increase costs.

It’s a small majority of Canadians that feel we need high levels of government regulation and subsidies. That majority is just enough to eke out yet another Liberal government. That means that every business, every movement and every idea has to be hidebound in dependency on the government. Just look around and ask yourself how beneficial it is to be dependent on the government. It doesn’t work for welfare recipients, businesses or First Nations communities. In fact, it isn’t really working well for anyone. To recognize that truth is the pathway to freedom and prosperity.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the newspaper staff.