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 A key aspect of each scandal is that the priorities and desires of the Prime Minister have superseded the well-being of the Canadians.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.

Lethbridge Herald: Soft on Crime Tough on Victims

The heartbreaking news of the Texas school shooting has devastated families around the world.

To respond appropriately at the legislative level in Canada would be to put policy in place that cracks down on the illegal acquisition and use of guns, organized crime groups, and cross-border weapons trafficking. Tough on Crime legislation should also be central to the actions of a government wanting to look out for the safety and security of Canadians.

Sadly, the current government is going in a different direction.

The NDP-Liberal government is once again demonstrating that it is more interested in political theatre than making a meaningful difference for Canadians. This time, the costs will be extremely devastating.

We have seen many politicians try to exploit tragedies in order to push through their agendas. I would suggest this is exactly what is taking place here in Canada right now. The Prime Minister is pulling on the heartstrings of Canadians and promising a reduction in gun violence.

What the Prime Minister is failing to communicate is that the measures he is taking will have the exact the opposite effect.

The NDP-Liberals have introduced two separate pieces of legislation, one that will let those who break the law off the hook, and another that will penalize those who abide by the law.

It’s as if they want to incentivise lawlessness.

Bill C-5, introduced as Bill C-22 in the last Parliament, would amend the Criminal Code to take away mandatory jail time for violent gun crime and allow those criminals to serve under house arrest in our communities. This would make our neighborhoods less safe and more at risk of future gun violence.

This is about politics, not gun safety, and it is at the expense of everyday Canadians who are being victimized in their own communities by rising gun violence committed by gangs and dangerous criminals.

Here are some of the offences the Liberals do not believe warrant mandatory prison time: weapons trafficking, discharging a firearm with intent, robbery with a firearm, and extortion with a firearm. This is both alarming and absurd.

This soft on crime approach is not only dangerous, but also a departure from reason. Letting serious criminal offenders serve time out in the communities they may have victimized is cruel and unusual punishment for victims. I cannot even imagine telling a victim of one of these crimes that their victimizer is being let back into the community to serve their time on house arrest.

Why is this government putting the desires of criminals above the well-being of victims and safety of our communities?

Conservatives have always stood for common sense gun safety and strong consequences for those who commit gun offenses. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. If we value human life, the principles of law and justice, and safety in this country, then we should work to strengthen the structures that uphold those principles, not tear them down under the guise of “compassion.”

It is obvious to anyone watching that the NDP-Liberals are not serious about stopping dangerous criminals from getting their hands on illegal guns and they are not serious about making our streets safer.

Since the Liberals were elected in 2015, gun crime has gone up steadily each year, despite their arbitrary bans and their complicated and expensive buy-back program. The facts do not lie. The soft-on-crime strategy does not help, nor does going after law-abiding firearm owners, and yet, the NDP-Liberals are doubling down on these failed strategies and hoping Canadians aren’t looking at the stats.

For years, my Conservative colleagues and I have been calling on the government to address gun smuggling and improve the ability of border agents to prevent the flow of illegal guns into Canada. We need to give border control agents targeted resources or a directed taskforce to detect smuggling.

Additionally, they have tabled Bill C-21 which proposes a national freeze on the importing, buying, selling or otherwise transferring of handguns. Instead of taking measures that would actually reduce gun violence in Canada, the NDP-Liberals are targeting our highly-vetted firearms owners who follow the law.

The reality is that the vast majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained firearms. Measures like freezing the legal purchase of firearms does nothing to stop dangerous criminals and gangs who obtain their guns illegally.

If the NDP-Liberals were genuine in their desire to reduce gun crime in Canada and make our communities safer, they would focus resources on cutting off the illegal cross-border supply and they would keep violent criminals where they belong: behind bars.

This type of political theatre and virtue signaling is reckless, short-sighted, and out of step with a free and democratic society. It’s damaging for all. Canadians deserve much better.

Lethbridge Herald: Free Speech is Under Attack in Canada

“Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.”

There couldn’t be a more apt quote for this period of time than this one by President Ronald Reagan, particularly when it comes to the protection of free speech.

Perhaps the most fundamental right in a free and democratic society is the right to free speech. Without the liberty to speak freely, we cannot profess to be truly free.

It is through the use of speech that most of us share our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. It also provides us with a means to criticize, challenge, and correct those we believe to be in error. The exercising of free speech, especially in the public square, is what allows us to discover the truth and progress as a society. It is the very foundation of a democracy.

Given this fact, it is beyond alarming that our current government is intent on regulating and censoring speech. This is not a partisan quip. It is not a matter of interpretation. It is reality.

The Trudeau Liberals are planning to push through three separate pieces of legislation, all having to do with restricting freedom of expression.

Not only is there a concerted effort to restrict speech with which the government disagrees, but there is a less overt effort to place greater control in the hands of the government and grant less autonomy to individuals. This is the very opposite of a free and equal society.

Under the guise of fairness, equality, and safety, the Liberal government is attempting to regulate the content you see, hear, and post online. In a bizarre attempt to cover up the real impetus for one piece of legislation, Bill C-11, the Liberals are claiming their only aim is to “level the playing field” among traditional and non-traditional artists in Canada, while promoting Canadian culture.

They claim they will do this by putting a commission in place to evaluate content on YouTube or TikTok according to how “Canadian” it is. If it is deemed to be very Canadian, it will get forced in front of the eyeballs of Canadians, whether they want it or not. If it fails to pass the government’s definition of “Canadian,” it will be pushed down in the queue where it can’t be found.

Effectively, the government, through the commission, will pick which Canadian creators get to succeed and which ones don’t—what you get to watch and what you don’t. There’s no doubt about it, this is censorship at its finest.

Furthermore, digital first creators—those who function outside the box by working hard to generate an online audience, rather than depending on traditional broadcasters—will be forced to pay 30-percent of their revenue into an arts fund used to support conventional artists who produce material for which there is dwindling demand. Essentially, digital first creators will be forced to supplement the failure of traditional artists. Does that sound like “leveling the playing field” to you?

But I digress. The main point I wish to make today is how this legislation is a direct attack on our freedom to speak (and be heard).

This may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but it is. The government is trying to position itself as the arbiter of what speech you should be exposed to, as opposed to you making those selections for yourself. It’s wrong.

Bill C-18 mimics C-11 in that it gives more power to the government-appointed commission to determine which news outlets are approved to pursue monetary compensation for articles being shared on social media platforms and which media companies are plain out of luck.

In other words, the state will determine whether a news source is legitimate. Does this remind you of any other countries where the state dictates to the press?

This is another crafty way for the government to control what information is shared, and therefore what information you can freely see. Yikes!

The third, and perhaps most horrifying piece of censorship legislation, is one that will regulate “online harms.” This was presented as bill C-36 last spring, but it died when the election was called.

Currently, the new draft is at the proposal stage, and so far, the feedback is damning. In documents the government tried to hide, but were accessed through an Access to Information Request, we learned that many individuals, academics, and industry experts are concerned this bill would put ethnic minority groups at risk, violate freedom of expression, and even liken us to countries like North Korea, Iran, and China.

Under the pretext of safety and protection, the proposed legislation would move what is currently legal language into the category of hate speech, thereby criminalizing language that is “likely to” cause offense or harm. Also troubling is the possibility that someone could preemptively accuse someone else of hate speech because of what they fear is possible. In other words, a person will be punished for something that could happen, rather than what did happen. Have you seen the movie “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise? I recommend giving it a watch.

It’s undeniable the federal government has launched an attack on free speech.

We must take a stand against this infringement on our rights and defend freedom, not only for ourselves, but for generations to come. To take action, please write the Prime Minister: Justin.Trudeau@parl.gc.ca