While accusations fly back and forth in the political arena between the Liberal and Conservative camps (the NDP having been reduced to the status of a hapless bystander), let us take a look at other news stories that deserve our attention. I would argue that the issues that form the subject matter of these stories are at least as consequential as, if not more than, the subjects of the aforementioned accusations:
1. Threat to democracy: As posted
on X by Douglas Todd, a reporter with The Vancouver Sun, the Vancouver
Parks Board “has issued an email to community centres saying patrons of
fitness centres can only watch sports channels. Not news, or anything else”. Another X user, Karin Litzke, added via a repost that “Just when you cautiously advocate for the elected park board, they illustrate that elected does not always mean better”
(Emphasis added in both the quotes).
As we know, voter apathy is a
particular affliction at the municipal level, but even in provincial and
federal elections, voter turnout is nothing to sing hosannas of praise
about. Low voting suits politicians perfectly well, so it would be naïve
in the extreme to look to that class of individuals for providing
leadership in the direction of improvement.
On the other hand, at the
level of the individual voter, their disenchantment is easy to
understand; they have been failed by the system too many times to have
faith in it. Ironically, their disenchantment and the resulting
disinterest in voting leads to other voters’ disenchantment,
creating a vicious downward spiral.
As a result, we often get these
‘mini dictators’ who want to decide what patrons of fitness centres can
watch while working out.
2. Carbon Tax: The
astonishing speed with which Leftists in Canada have executed an
about-face in the matter of carbon tax is a sight to behold, and (I
think) will be talked about for a very long time. For long years, a mere
hint of a suggestion against carbon tax sufficed to attract vociferous
crowds chanting indignation and hurling epithets. But as the
cost-of-living crisis over the past 3 years worsened, a critical mass of
public opinion coalesced around opposition to this tax.
The problem was
that as long as Justin Trudeau was at the helm of the federal
government, it was impossible to backtrack (for a variety of reasons,
including his ego about which much has been written and said). His exit
from the stage made it possible for his successor to at least create an
appearance of jettisoning what was one of Mr. Trudeau’s signature
policies.
Of course, Mr. Carney is a well-known proponent of net zero /
renewable energy ideas, so there are well-founded fears that if and when
he manages to win the election, he may turn out not to be good for his
word. However, in the interim, it is politically profitable to follow in
his footsteps. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to me (and I am sure,
to you as well) that B.C. Premier David Eby announced that his government would abolish its carbon tax.
It is worth bearing in mind here that 17 years ago, B.C. became the first jurisdiction in all of North America to levy carbon tax.
Of course, he did not adduce any data to support this decision. And it
would be unreasonable to expect him to explain how this decision squares
with the voluminous arguments in support of carbon tax that we were
inundated with over the past two decades.
This just goes to show that carbon tax is a political measure and not a scientific one. Politicians who were ardently for it will, on a dime, be against it the moment it benefits them to do so.
3. Immigration: The fallout from the reduction in study permits for international students continues. As reported by the Vancouver Sun, “Kwantlen
Polytechnic University plans to lay off about six dozen faculty
members, citing a sharp decline in international student enrolment and
the tuition they pay.”
While my sympathies lie with anyone who loses their job, this may be an
opportune time to dig into the longstanding argument that
‘international students subsidize the education of domestic students’.
First off, many of the colleges (in both the public as well as the
private sector) were simply cashing in on a fundamentally flawed visa
policy, to amass personal fortunes; welfare of domestic students had
nothing to do with it. Secondly, and at a deeper level, if
postsecondary institutions can survive only by enrolling international
students in such high numbers that the resulting pressures on cost of
living and housing doom the future of domestic students, then how
desirable is it to keep these institutions (artificially) viable?
Unfortunately,
our mainstream media is an intellectual desert, so we have come NOT to
expect them to conduct an inquiry of this nature. However, it is
disappointing that no such exploration has been done by anyone in the
academia as well – probably because they are also part of the same post-secondary ecosystem that guilty of ruining young Canadians’ future
prospects.
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