For the second time in but a couple of months Manitoulin Island will be heading to the polls. The writ will be dropped, if it has not already when this editorial hits the stands, in a matter of weeks if not days now that the Liberal Party of Canada has completed its leadership convention.
Our nation’s newly-installed Prime Minister Mark Carney knows he is in need of a mandate from the Canadian people if he is to deal with the existential threats posed by The Donald—not to mention that he needs a seat in Parliament in order to effectively do his job.
This opportunity to elect a new federal government comes during the most consequential times to face our nation in generations.
Faced with cascading threats from our neighbour to the south, our once (and hopefully) future closest friends, Canada has not faced such an existential threat since the dawn of Confederation. Our nation was formed out of concerns about security and potential threats from the United States, whose military might had burgeoned during its fratricidal civil war in the 1860s.
The stakes in this coming election have never been higher.
Canadians must decide who among those vying to lead our nation during this most turbulent of times can best deal with the unhinged governing style of an increasingly authoritarian American leader.
Most of us (journalists being a key exception) have far more “important” things on our minds than paying close attention to the clamouring cacophony we usually find emanating from the Hill—especially in recent months. Things like paying mortgages, buying groceries, clothing ourselves and our families, usually take precedence over politics in our daily lives. That’s one of the key reasons polling is so unreliable as a predictor of elections when one is not looming close on the horizon.
We elect representatives to government to do the job of governing so we can get on with our lives.
It is an unfortunate aspect of democracy that elections are battles between opposing ideologies. By their very nature elections highlight divisions and this one comes at a time when we need to stand firmly together. That is why, in times of threats like global war, our vying parties often set aside their competitive natures to form unity governments.
While threats of annexation by the United States hang over our heads, some of our more cherished national icons will soon be on the line in this election, not from forces outside our nation, but from within.
It is no secret that some would like to see our system of supply management dismantled and the free market unfettered by those pesky regulations around food safety, particularly in the area of dairy, poultry and eggs, it is argued are holding us back.
Canada has been blessed (some might offer “cursed”) with a robust regulatory system that ensures that the food on offer on our grocery shelves is safe. A glance to the south will confirm how an unfettered free market and lax regulation works out in that regard.
There are those who suggest the private for-profit sector would be better suited to dealing with the challenges facing our nation in the health sector. The United States boasts one of the most, if not the most, expensive health care system in the world—and yet despite spending significantly more per capita than other high-income countries, the US lags behind in key health outcomes and access to care, ranking last in overall health system performance compared to peer nations.
These are things most of us never have to consider or weigh in our daily lives, and most likely things that will not play as front and centre a role in the coming storm of political posturing that is an election. But they are on the board—ready to be chopped in the name of appeasement.
Our social safety nets are too expensive it is argued. Our education systems are too expensive. Our devotion to equity, diversity and inclusion that are the very building blocks of a multi-cultural federation are holding us back, it is argued. The Expositor begs to disagree.
Our nation, along with the rest of the globe, has come through some of the most trying times since the dying days of the Great War and we are still shaking off the anger and frustration those times have engendered.
Despite what some claim as they attempt to harness those emotions, Canada is not broken. The facts speak loudly for themselves if we but listen past the rhetoric and posturing. Despite cost-of-living challenges that are still reverberating from the COVID-19 pandemic, despite housing issues that our ever-freeing up private market has failed to resolve, our nation remains among the most desirable destinations in the world—literally the envy of the world. There are reasons for that.
Now is not the time to be blinded by frustration and anger. This is a time when each of us must examine carefully which path forward we wish our nation to take.
We will soon be swamped by a veritable avalanche of negative political advertising. It will happen simply because, when people are not paying close enough attention to actual policies on offer, it works—especially when big money plays the game. It worked gangbusters to the south.
Over the next two months, Canadians will be tasked with weighing in the balance who is best equipped to navigate the dangerous shoals that face us over the next four years. Our way of life is on the line—it has never been more serious.
Let’s not sleepwalk into the future.
