Every election that comes around we hear, “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain after!”
When I was taking Canadian history, there were two cartoons in the history book that I will never forget. The first one was “STUMPIN” which was a picture of a fat little “wan-a-be” politician standing on a stump handing out money to the surrounding crowd. The second one was a political supporter standing behind his car with the trunk open near a voting poll, giving out free shots of liquor to anyone who would promise to vote for his candidate.
Many politicians still participate in “all candidates debates” to try to sway voters to support them on voting day. This is your chance to ask tough questions to the candidates. Some candidates will not show up at a debate where “free” questions may be asked.
Candidates who are not able to face their own constituents are seldom capable of answering questions at a local council, the M.R.C., the provincial legislature, or in the house of commons either. Every politician must be able to provide a reason for each decision they make. It may take some time to defend the decision that they took.
Too often, politicians make a decision based on the results of a poll that was taken about how most people feel that the vote should go. A brave politician can defend their vote based on the long term results of their decision over past facts and the future years, even though that decision does not correspond with the results of today’s poll.
Too many politicians make “snap decisions” based on poll results instead of offering facts that lead to decisions to improve the economy and well-being of the population over the next decade or generation, not just who wins the upcoming election.
A glaring example is climate change, which our scientists knew about and informed the politicians decades ago. The majority of the world’s population then, wanted to enjoy the good times and not spend hard earned money to address climate change then. The “then” politicians voted with the polls and decided to wait. By delaying or denying for several decades, it will now cost the world many, many times the price to get the brakes on and hopefully reverse climate change.
For thousands of years we have been ruled by “the golden rule”, (He who has the gold, makes the rules). That’s why, the rich got richer, and the poor get poorer.
A couple decades ago, the Prime Minister asked the Minister of Agriculture to eliminate a program that put Canadian grain at the top of grain quality in the entire world. If this program was scrapped, it might have led to a very short term drop in Canadian grain prices before the next election. The “then” Minister of Agriculture resigned and never ran for office again, rather than follow his Prime Minister’s orders. He knew that the price drop would be very short-lived, the overall quality of Canadian grains would drop and demand for Canadian grain would also drop. The short-lived price drop in Canadian grains would very soon raise to former levels with the profits going to grain merchants and never to the producers or truckers or the consumers. I still respect that Ag. Minister for his conviction to do the best for Canadians.
Both politicians and Canadians have been lobbied and undermined by those who would take advantage of our process of handing out huge profitable contracts for roads, bridges, military, and a dozen other contracts. There have also been attacks on our democracy like in both the January 6 protest in the US, and the protest on Parliament Hill. Many of the “in the background” forces were identified both on Capitol Hill and Parliament Hill. Those forces were hidden behind the so-called “freedom fighters” and the truckers. Their main purpose was to show that democracy does not work as well as a dictatorship or communism.
Do you remember who congratulated those who “stormed” Capitol Hill, Russia’s attack on the Ukraine, and the protest on Parliament Hill? History will tell you about how “conquerors” have used the churches as an excuse for their brutal attacks on civilians.
For many years several countries have been ruled by the church. The KKK were hidden by a church. Religion was a cause of strife in Ireland for a century. In North America both the government and the church share the blame for the treatment of our First Nations People.
Kids in day-care can all get along, English, French, Italian, Ukrainian, red, yellow, white, black, until adults teach them that “others” are different. Why can’t we all play in the same sandbox?
Yes, we all have an obligation to listen to AND TELL our politicians what kind of world we want for our grandchildren. We just celebrated father’s day. Do you think that our grandparents would have wanted us to be faced with the problems we are facing today?
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
