The Hypocrisy Could not be More Obvious

A little humility can go a long way, especially for those of us in places of leadership.

Sadly, this conviction is seemingly absent in the Liberal government.

Tragically, it has become the habit of Liberal MPs to categorize anyone who disagrees with them as racist, misogynist, or even a Nazi. You will likely recall that we found ourselves thrust into an unnecessary election this time last year. From day one, the Prime Minister’s strategy was to divide Canadians, stigmatize anyone who failed to hold his ideals, and pit regions of our country against each other. With malice in his voice, he outlandishly labelled all unvaccinated Canadians “misogynists and racist.” He questioned whether we should tolerate “these people” as if they were of lesser value.

Mr. Trudeau even went so far as to liken my Conservative colleague, MP Melissa Lantsman, to people waving Nazi flags. Never mind the fact that she is Jewish.

In addition to routinely attaching the most heinous labels to people with whom they disagree, the Trudeau Liberals are obsessed with regulating speech. There are three separate pieces of legislation on the books for this year, which would censor what Canadians can see, hear, and say online: Bill C-11, Bill C-18, and a forthcoming online harms bill.

The Liberal government sees itself as the moral authority on speech. The irony, of course, is that they are some of the worst perpetrators of using distasteful language, inciting hate, and spreading misinformation.

There could not be a clearer example than the recent situation wherein the Canadian Heritage department hired a raging anti-Semite to provide anti-racism training for Canadian broadcasters. Laith Marouf is a senior consultant with the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC), to whom the government awarded a $133,000 contract (paid with Canadian tax dollars) to conduct training sessions on hate speech.

What is unfathomable is the fact that Mr. Marouf somehow made it past the Liberal government’s vetting process—assuming there was one. A few minutes on his Twitter feed would have revealed a whole host of the most abhorrent anti-Semitic statements and racist slurs one could imagine. It begs the question, was Mr. Marouf assessed and contracted based on merit or was he a friend for whom the Liberals were simply doing a favour?

When the story started gaining traction, it was expected that Pablo Rodriguez, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, would issue some type of explanation and apology for this egregious incident. After a week of deafening silence, I decided to write a letter to the minister pointing out the hypocrisy of his government’s virtue-signalling and the fact that he had yet to make a statement on the hiring of Mr. Marouf, for which his department was responsible.

To my surprise, his office responded by shirking responsibility and redirecting me to a different minister.

This is an example of Liberal tactic 101: avoid and evade any accountability.

I know everyone makes mistakes. Awarding a contract to a racist to teach Canadian broadcasters about anti-racism could be classified as one of the worst.

The issue I take now is the utter silence coming from the Liberal caucus as whole. This is not about Conservatives vs. Liberals; this is about right vs. wrong.

Anthony Housefather, who is a Jewish Liberal MP, is the only clear exception. To his credit, he has been extremely vocal on this matter from the beginning. He even pointed out Mr. Marouf’s troubling conduct weeks before the story broke, but nothing was done. He later tweeted, “There is a feeling in my community that antisemitism is tolerated more than other forms of hate in North America today.”

Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel famously wrote, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”

The fact that there was an anti-Semite spewing hate from his social media pages while representing the Canadian government is reprehensible. The fact that the Heritage Minister has failed to take account and offer an apology is even worse.

And remember, this is the same minister who is responsible for three pieces of legislation targeted at regulating the speech of Canadians.

The hypocrisy could not be more obvious.

The tag line for the Liberal party should be “do what we say, not what we do.” Nothing more. Nothing less. Keep it simple. Keep it truthful. Afterall, honesty is the best policy, is it not?

Lethbridge Herald: Let Farmers Grow!

In 1978, at the Future Farmers of America convention, radio broadcaster Paul Harvey gave a speech entitled “So God Made a Farmer,” which outlined the characteristics of an individual who was fit to be a caretaker of the land and the animals that lived on it: someone who was hardworking and tough enough to bear the weight of struggle and adversity, yet gentle enough to care for animals that were suffering. In his speech, Harvey hypothesized:

“God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.”

In his simple, yet powerful tribute to farmers, Paul Harvey assigned dignity and honour to those who work night and day, often in challenging and unpredictable circumstances, to keep us fed.

Farmers across Canada deserve this level of recognition every single day. What we are witnessing instead, however, is a direct attack launched by the federal government against these hardworking men and women and the remarkable job they do—for us.

In addition to the ever-increasing carbon tax, which has made farming an even more costly endeavor, the Trudeau Liberals are narrowing in their sights on fertilizer use. In December 2020, the Prime Minister announced plans for “a national target to reduce absolute levels of GHG emissions arising from fertilizer application by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.”

In response to the forthcoming assault, Fertilizer Canada commissioned a report from the accounting firm MNP. The report concluded that the mandated fertilizer reductions would result in a $48 billion loss in farm incomes over the eight years leading up to 2030. What’s worse, this loss in income and food production will do absolutely nothing of significance to reduce worldwide GHG emissions.

Fertilizer Canada issued a statement saying, “Because Canadian farmers are already among the most sustainable growers in the world, they have less room to lower fertilizer emissions without compromising their food production than those in other countries.”

The federal government’s attack on farmers is virtue signaling at its finest.

Canadian agriculture producers are among the most sustainable growers in the world. Fertilizer is expensive, and just like any profit-driven business, famers do not want to expend unnecessary expenses, so they use fertilizer sparingly. In fact, farmers hire agronomists to help them care for the soil, water, and crops in a sustainable manner. Their goal is to produce the greatest yield using the smallest amount of fertilizer possible. For the federal government to assume it knows more than farmers about fertilizer use, food production, or even environmental practices is foolish.

This ridiculous policy will not only fail in its claim to save the planet, but it will also cause significant food shortages, make Canadians pay more to feed their families, and cause increased poverty and starvation in Canada and other parts of the developing world that depend on us.

This is not a solution to the record high food prices and supply chain shortages we are experiencing because of the government’s inflation-inducing deficit spending and Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The current government’s political measures make things worse. While the Prime Minister can pat himself on the back for “doing something” to appease his enviro-activist supporters, he is in fact kneecapping the agriculture sector and further punishing Canadians who are already having a hard time filling up a grocery cart to feed their families.

Constituents regularly visit, call, or email my office to share with me how difficult it is to afford their daily necessities. Individuals who have jobs that were once considered “good paying jobs,” now cannot afford to pay for gas and rent. I think of seniors who are on a fixed income or those who live with a disability who must make ends meet on a small government-stipend—these folks are finding it almost impossible to meet their basic needs. Food banks can’t keep up with the demand being placed on them.

Politically motivated policies like this are crippling Canada’s economy and hurting Canadians. The Trudeau Liberals need to axe their attack on farmers and allow them to function as experts in food production so they can continue to feed Canada and the world.

We should be celebrating and supporting our innovative, resourceful, responsible, and hardworking farmers, not forcing them to jump through more unnecessary hoops and punitive regulations.

Canadian agriculture is a superpower that sets us apart as a nation that can feed the world. Let’s give our farmers the tools they need and the respect they deserve so they can continue to be leaders in their field and champions of our country!

Lethbridge Herald: Putting Politics over People is no Way to Serve a Country

The history of a nation is always composed of some great decisions and some not-so-great decisions. This is the nature of humans leading humans. Mistakes are made. But generally, those who take on the responsibility of leading a democratic country do so with the desire to serve its citizens—the people.

Over the last seven years in Canada, we have witnessed a significant decline in citizen-centric leadership. Instead, decisions have been made for political advantage.

The Prime Minister is all too willing to sacrifice the foundations of our democracy on the altar of convenience and political opportunity at every turn.

Take for example the endless number of scandals that have characterized this government. A key aspect of each scandal is that the priorities and desires of the Prime Minister have superseded the well-being of the Canadians. When special interest groups, corporations, and political insiders have more sway over the Prime Minister’s Office than regular Canadians, you know we are headed down a dangerous path.

Whether it is SCN-Lavalin, WE Charity, Loblaws, various multinational organizations, pharmaceutical companies, or his closest friends, I would suggest the Prime Minister’s focus has been off kilter from the get-go.

The government’s latest gun legislation, Bill C-21, is another great example of putting politics before people. Canada already has incredibly tight laws when it comes to acquiring, using, and transporting firearms. If you wish to have one, you must take a course and pass a written and practical exam. You then have to apply for a license. Your mental health history will be investigated, and a criminal record check will be done. Your name will be kept in the system, any firearms you purchase will be registered to you, and you will be held accountable for their use.

The Prime Minister would like Canadians to believe that none of this is true and that anyone who owns a firearm is a bad person.

If he can make you think this, he can get away with his useless gun legislation. He claims it will help keep Canadians safe and upon first read that might seem reasonable, but the stats tell a different story.

Gun crimes are committed largely by gangs, with guns that are smuggled into Canada from the US. They aren’t registered and those who use them obviously don’t abide by the law.

Putting more laws in place, won’t take these thugs off the street. More laws will simply punish those who already abide by the existing ones.

Money needs to be invested in shutting down gangs, reinforcing our border, and cracking down on smuggling operations. To do otherwise, is simple about maintaining a political image, at the expense of truly serving the safety and security of Canadians.

Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 are two separate pieces of censorship legislation, which would give the government more control over the public discourse and dissemination of information online. This agenda is a blatant infringement on freedom of expression, and it is completely contradictory to a free and democratic society.

Another very clear depiction of this government putting politics over people is when it continues its inflation-inducing spending to score political points, despite the growing inability for millions of Canadians to pay for basic necessities like food and fuel.

We are in a cost-of-living crisis with inflation hitting 7.7%, the highest rate in 40 years, yet the Liberal Finance Minister has promised more spending, which will pour gasoline on the fire. What Canadians need is for the government to reign in its fiscal spending and exercise restraint, so that they can keep more of their hard-earned dollars and prices can go down.

If the Liberal government truly cares about putting people first, they would put in place policies that minimize the state and maximize the sovereign individual.

John F. Kennedy wisely said, “A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” In other words, when a government is afraid of its people, or worse, fears the people are losing affection for their government, the state will try to keep them in line to alleviate the potential for independent thought and action.

Canadians deserve to be put first!

We need a government that puts Canadians above politics and at the forefront of decision-making processes. Where partisan politics, and divisive strategies have become commonplace, there needs to be a reversion to greater respect, consideration, and honour for the people this government is meant to serve.