Zeitgeist

The main reason we have constitutionally enshrined rights is to prevent totalitarianism and the tyranny of the majority. Individual rights are fundamental to a free society. They also ensure that government doesn’t attempt to direct thinking and behaviour to the extent of trouncing on freedom of thought, religion, assembly, expression, etc. Our current Liberal government very much wants to direct how we think and what we believe. I do think they’re a force against humanity. Trudeau won’t let caucus members vote with their conscience on abortion, public health mandates, and more.

Israel has the right idea but our public would never go for it.

That’s dismissive and unfair. Why throw billions at a bogus solution to a problem that may not exist or may not be something that we can impact in any measurable and meaningful way? Even if you think human made impacts can be mitigated to make changes that can make life better for billions, you haven’t illustrated how they can be substantively reduced without creating bigger problems. I think tech is the only answer, but it will happen gradually and I’m not convinced that we’re in a climate crisis. I do think more people are impacted by bad weather and natural disasters than in the past because there are more people in the world and many people living in coastal areas, more than ever in history.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to change. Canadians are proud of stupid policies. That’s why I’m hoping my kids can get opportunities outside Canada.

Carbon taxes should be made illegal. They’re simply a tax grab used to pay for more centrally planned ineffectual programs. BC residents won’t figure it out because these are the same people who can’t understand why crime and deaths are rising in Vancouver as government hands out free drugs and police have stopped all hard drug enforcement. People will only make the obvious connections when it impacts them personally, such as when their kids can’t find a safe playground free of needles or they can’t afford to buy the fuel they need to take grandma to her medical appointment.

Can you two please keep your identity politics nonsense away from our military? You really don’t know why the military isn’t as diverse as you want it to be. You immediately jump to the conclusion that it must be because the military is racist instead of considering that maybe recent immigrants aren’t interested in joining a military for a slew of reasons. You don’t consider that maybe if someone has fled a war torn country like Ukraine or Syria, maybe he, she or they don’t want to potentially end up fighting in a war. The general was bang on in explaining why we’re in this mess and it has a lot to do with your mentality. Eyeball would rather rely on other countries to defend Canada, even if it puts Canadian independence at risk. Moonbox wants military to be a glorified equity hiring program where skill isn’t as important as whether someone is a member of a government-designated victim group targeted for government benefits and privileges.

Of course the Covid jab isn’t necessary for kids. Omicron is a relatively mild illness for kids. Of course masking is another silly short term protection, as now kids have little immunity to multiple contagious illnesses. Are we going to spend billions on putting masks on people every flu season, hampering their social connections and turning them into paranoid freaks? Probably. Covid vaccines for kids are pushed at this point because government bought them.

Canadians are suckers who accept high taxes, including carbon taxes, that fail to reduce greenhouse gasses. It’s that simple. I’m currently visiting a U.S. state with no state sales tax. US citizen wages have grown at a higher rate than Canadian wages and they are taxed far less with better results for emissions. Nevertheless the Canadian government continues to fleece citizens to pay for stupid projects. The HST is another way that Canadians are mistreated. The rational for it was to throw a massive consumption tax at citizens to keep exports cheap. Basically foreigners can get Canadian goods more cheaply than Canadians. The tax burden in Canada has to be reduced substantially, but it won’t happen because Canadians have been taught that high taxes give them good services such as our failed healthcare system.

Yup, Trudeau denied what we all heard him say. He walked out of Parliament and hid rather than manning up and addressing legitimate public concerns. He really doesn’t think that the public should question draconian policies. What we saw in Canada in February, 2022 and was confirmed by the PM and his bought media today is that Canada’s constitution isn’t strong and won’t be upheld. Canada slid into dictatorship and there’s no evidence to suggest that this is being properly called out. Key influencers on the American left saw it, but the Canadian public have come to accept this degraded democracy. The CTV, TorStar, and CBC coverage of the inquiry was predictably sycophantic. In Canada you can kill yourself with government assistance more easily than anywhere else in the world, but if you protest government policy, you may be declared a criminal and lose your assets, reputation, and ability to work. Civil liberties groups saw this but the media largely played the same game as the PM of instilling fear over exaggerated claims of extremist threats. Your rights and property aren’t protected in Canada. I never thought I’d see political imprisonment in Canada, yet it happened quickly and easily. Apparently there’s no recourse either. How did people become so weak as to accept tyrannical leadership from such an intellectually weak and divisive leader? If Pierre Trudeau will be remembered for exercising exceptional authority to combat a real national crisis, Justin will be remembered for his cowardly use of maximum emergency powers to put out a peaceful protest that could’ve easily been ended through dialogue and even-handed leadership. Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is ineffectual because the country is weaker and more divided. Nothing needs to be added here. The quote sums up quite succinctly the undemocratic mentality of Justin Trudeau.

That’s why I liked income splitting under Harper.

You’re a beneficiary clearly of the welfare state. I haven’t received a single cheque. It pays to stay home and fill that bong, eh?

You still haven’t explained how a climate change scheme unaccountably became a socialist wealth redistribution scheme. Both are bad central planning schemes.

Why do you think it’s fine for government to take this money earmarked for fighting climate change from those who earned it and give it to people who didn’t earn it? Yes it’s communist because it’s state redistribution of wealth through central planning. You don’t understand it because you think you’re a conservative when you’re actually NDP in your policy perspective.

Because Canadians don’t deserve to decide within their own families how their earnings should be spent?

I wish I could believe that this inquiry would call out government overreach and result in a fundamental change for the better in terms of protecting the rights and freedoms of Canadians, but nothing has improved in the media coverage or government rhetoric. Canadians under these conditions will accept Canadians being banned from protesting, having their money stolen, and being beaten up by unaccountable police under the cover of an “emergency.” I just want for my kids to be able to live and work outside Canada because I don’t trust this government or the unquestioning indoctrinated public. It’s a watered down democracy that redistributes (steals) too much money from workers and hands it to those who don’t earn it. The elites pontificate about the next utopian scheme to tax and spend the money of workers that they don’t like or respect. The government’s treatment of the thousands of protesters in the convoy, the vast majority of whom were middle of the road Canadians, tells you exactly what this government is capable of doing to citizens. Freeland and Trudeau are the poster children of this total violation of constitutional principles. It doesn’t matter. Tonight the CBC will paint a sympathetic picture of Trudeau’s testimony. ExFlyer and Moonbox will defend it on here. I don’t even want to bother weighing in on this anymore. Canada is probably a write off. At this point I’m renewing my British passport, looking at property in the US, and hoping my kids set themselves up so they can get out the next time this kind of oppression or worse rolls out.

No it’s not a “dumb” discussion. Canadian governments routinely steal money from those who earn it and hand it to those who don’t in some ideological “We know who deserved what” form of redistribution. That is exactly the kind of unaccountable interference one would find in an extreme left-wing country, because Canada is an extreme left-wing country. You’re just so totally indoctrinated in the idea that government should decide how you should live and how much of your money you should keep that you think all this is fine.

Unfortunately the electorate in Canada are perhaps the most indoctrinated people in the developed West. It’s a de facto one-party system at the federal level. The only way out is to emigrate or secede, which is why Alberta is seriously threatening to ignore federal policy and go it alone. Enslavement is most powerful at the ideological level. Our government has bought enough media and mastered the art of vilifying the opposition. Come election time we’ll hear again how the. Conservatives are “scary.” I don’t expect Canada to change course. The judge at the inquiry is ignoring evidence, silencing the convoy lawyer, and using exactly the same dismissive language as the Liberal government. What can Conservatives do? I suggest that they be who they are and say what they think, even after the media witch-hunt ensues. Show backbone. I’m sure some Canadians who regain the confidence to think for themselves will appreciate the authenticity. If the public doesn’t like it, they can have even more radical left coalition government mess. At least then Conservatives will have the honour of being true to themselves, which is a greater honour than pretending Canada isn’t sliding into Chinese-style totalitarian capitalism.

There’s no buy in from half the country on the validity of this “inquiry” which overlooks or outright supports the government’s illegal redaction of party staffer text from documents. “Cabinet confidentiality” is so loosely defined that basically the government can apply it to most communications. We’ll never know how the government transacted the EA. What’s more, the top bureaucrats are so beholden to the Liberals that they won’t dare to criticize the party unless their position is on the line. It’s the whitewash we expected. We could’ve written the outcome at the beginning.

Please tell your friend to get out of the military. It’s got enough problems. The Marxist-Nihilists are destroying Canada.

Just how radical left does Canada have to get? There’s barely any conservative representation in Canada. It can’t be called a pluralistic society anymore. It’s always the same phoney effusive NDP-Liberal talking points. Boring and soft.

The military is weighed down with identity politics nonsense to the extent of dysfunction.

That’s the heart of that matter that you’re missing completely. It’s because of identity politics and fluff that has nothing to do with running an effective military that we’re in this mess. We went from Harper and Obama, both of whom I admired and respected in many ways (despite Obama blowing it in Iraq by undemocratically supporting the losers of an election) to Biden and Trudeau, who have let the radical left drive policy. If it wasn’t for Manchin and Sinema bringing reasonableness to the infrastructure bill, America’s inflation problems would be worse. Trudeau spends more time pandering to left-wing special interests and throwing money at unnecessary pet projects than he does on the bread and butter of the economy. This general is basically saying that leaders have gotten far outside of their lanes. They’ve forgotten what’s important or they’re scared to defend what’s important for fear of cancellation. He’s right. If that’s too “socially conservative” for you, I won’t bother trying to convince you. I agree with your point about our over abundance of senior leaders: “have 129 generals/admirals for 65,000 service members (and shrinking). The US marines have ~60 generals for 180,000 service members”

You’re just wrong on all counts, I mean every single one. That man has forgotten more than you’ve learned, as the saying goes. Respect and learn from those who know and have the experience to back their views and authority. Quite simply, his level is not the level of dilettantes and pretenders, nor cowards and amateurs. I suggest that if you want a capable military that has purpose and value, heed his words. Not everything is worthless or up for debate simply because it existed before you came on the scene. In fact, it’s the fact that we’ve thrown the baby out with the bath water that brought us to this point of dysfunction, because we used to have a highly effective military that was once one of the best in the world, probably the 4th most effective by the end of WW2. What do you think the purpose of a military is, to dispense favours without the expectation of high standards? Guess what, high military standards actually involve questions of battle-readiness, commitment, and clarity of mission. It’s about much more than hairdos and uniforms, but here’s the rub: If you can’t handle a uniform and basic training, why should anyone expect you to manage taking orders to kill to defend your country? Read The Greatest Generation, about the parents of the Boomers who fought in WW2. Those are strong people who rose to greatness. Our youth today have barely been allowed off the front porch. It feels like a fin de siècle.

No you couldn’t

The lack of respect is owing to a coddled, inexperienced, naïve millennial perspective. It’s not the general’s problem. There’s nothing specifically MAGA about the speech, but you’ll dismiss wisdom if some MAGA supporters have some of these ideas. It’s illustrative of an over-sensitive, bubble-wrapped, uncritical mind raised on everyone-gets-a-ribbon pablum.