When I was in about grade seven, I remember there was a cartoon in an old textbook about Canadian history, of a man behind a tree close to a voting poll giving out a free drink of liquor to anyone who would vote for his party. Although I was a young teenager, I was still quite surprised anyone would try to buy someone’s vote.
We have recently been exposed to the recent political kerfuffle about who knew what and when about foreign interference in the selection and election of some federal candidates.
Since 1984, Canada has CSIS which is similar to the CIA in the United States, to collect intelligence about everything that might affect the security of our country. For almost 40 years, CSIS and before CSIS, the secret service division of the RCMP had been aware of various forms of interference in our elections. CSIS had also been informing our federal governments about what was going on, even before CSIS existed. For some undisclosed reasons, various governments in that time frame never reacted to the information even though both CSIS and the CIA working together expressed great concern.
Today with the abundance of computer software and AI, the job of tracking threats to our security has only multiplied. Being the head of CSIS is not easy. A former head of CSIS resigned after exposing a former prime minister of lying about saying he knew nothing about some torture tactics used at the time, when it was well documented that the prime minister at the time did know.
It is obvious that some of the important decisions made are based on the findings of popularity polls instead of what’s right for the future of our country. A former prime minister, John Diefenbaker once said, “Poles are for dogs to pee on.”
Some of the decisions and policies are made because of advice given by short sighted economists who don’t look ahead any farther than the next election. If a farm was operated like that, most farms would not survive until the next generation took over. If our world is run like that, it may not survive until the next generation lives in it either.
We are lucky enough to live in the most popular country in the world to move to. There are people at our borders, some legal, some just trying to survive. You don’t see lineups like that at Russian or Chinese border crossings. You don’t see freedom marches in Moscow or Beijing either. Canada has universal health care that looks after you whether you are fully vaccinated or not, until you get better or die.
There are groups in our democratic countries who are promoting anarchy and disobedience with no thought of alternatives to democracy. Freedom of speech, religion and culture have been the backbone of democratic countries and the reason why we are the most desired country in the world to move to.
All phases of government from school boards to federal government are democratically elected. Let’s take the time to choose people who care about the kind of world that our grandchildren would want to inherit.
Once upon a time, a neighbour of ours was nominated to sit as a councillor of our town. He told my dad that he didn’t think he had the time. Dad asked him if he had enjoyed living in our town. He said, “yes, it’s a great town.” Dad said, “Do you not think that you owe a couple years being a councillor in this great town?” After a few minutes of thought, he said, “Yes, I sure do.”
Some people run for office because of prestige or money.
Don’t let the good ones get away. I have watched an excellent federal minister resign rather than do something that the party wanted him to do that would in future years be bad for our country. I always respected that man for taking the position he chose. It turned out that the position the party took turned out to be both expensive and detrimental to our country, only making a few political friends rich.
Remember, we are but the custodians of our children’s future.
