Environmentalism has replaced Socialism

While it has been a while since I have posted anything it is not because I have been inactive! During the run up to the national election held in late October I was busy submitting items to the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal newspaper and the local Nipigon Gazette. Here is the first of the several I submitted to the CJ.

Environmentalism has replaced Socialism

Politics, for me, is a fascinating subject in that there are so many shades of meaning such that at times it is hard to differentiate those who favour one political philosophy from another. In Canada we have three main parties and several also ran's that lie more on the fringes. In a "perfect" world they would be labelled as being right wing, centrist or left wing.

Those who support "capitalism" typically would be considered to be right wing, or "conservatives" and those who support "socialism" are left wing or "socialists". "Liberals" traditionally have tried to find a happy medium between the two extremes; except in Canada whereby all three major parties were centralists in that our "conservatives" support socialistic policies and our "socialists" support capitalistic policies.

No matter which party one was previously aligned with the common thread was what was best for the people of Canada as attested by our two mottos: “From sea to sea” and “Peace, Order and Good Government”. Both are currently being challenged by a new political order.

To illustrate the “old” order let us consider as an example the farmers of the prairies, the birthplace of the New Democratic Party and where Provincially they have been well represented for a long time. Farmers are independent businessmen, capitalists, but with no control over critical aspects of whether or not they make a profit; the weather and grain prices. When times are tough (the grain markets are doing poorly, or the weather prevents a good harvest) they band together to help one another survive until next season; they are socialists. But when times are good (the prices received for their grains more than meet costs or the weather has resulted in a bumper harvest) they stand apart and are capitalists again.

We are now in strange times in that environmentalism has overtly (the Green Party) or covertly infiltrated most of our political parties such that we have much disunity across our country and our collective well being is seriously threatened by environmental-centric policies such as no pipelines and so called “carbon” taxes (we all should know that all living creatures, including us, are primarily carbon so we are now declaring ourselves ”pollution”?). Currently the only exception appears to be the Peoples Party of Canada.

What has happened to be doing what is best for society? Instead society has become the scapegoat for everything that is imagined to be wrong with the environment such as the supposedly imperiled woodland caribou or climate change. The Liberals embraced environmentalism the earliest. The NDP and Conservatives are falling over themselves to various degrees trying to do so as well.

An example of a former politician who sees clearly the problem with adopting the draconian actions promoted by the environmentalists is Brad Wall of Saskatchewan. While he believes in climate change, he does not agree at all with the policies being put in place by the Liberals, both Federally and Provincially across this country. Government is financed by taxes. Taxes are paid by working people. If people lose their jobs due to untested and unproven environmental policies, then we are due for economic collapse.

What is most puzzling though is how did this come about? How did almost all our political parties lose sight of who they are supposed to be representing, the people of Canada? Not too long ago Barbara Kay, a columnist with the National Post wrote a piece titled "The deplorables' get their moment. Break out the pointed hoods". She tells about how radicals now pretend to be others as a means of attaining their own agenda; a methodology created and promoted by Saul Alinksky who wrote a book called "Rules for Radicals". In it he encouraged radicals to work within the system while accruing power to destroy it. If you think of it, Gerald Butts, former CEO of the World Wildlife Fund of Canada, up until recently Justin Trudeau's principal secretary and previously the principal secretary for former Premier Dalton McGuinty fits that description to a tee.

In summary Canada's political system has devolved whereby most of our political parties have become corrupted from within to the point that they care not for you and me, the people of this country. The Bloc want to tear the country apart for different reasons but with the same result. This coming fall election think twice about who you wish to support for our local representative in the Canadian Parliament. How about someone with well reasoned principals who wants to ensure our economic well being going forward? Watch, listen and if given the opportunity, ask them hard questions. Assure yourself they have your best interests in mind, or would they rather be modern day Don Quixote’s and tilt at windmills, the imaginary giants they are afraid of. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt so eloquently said: "the only thing we have to fear, but fear itself"!