fire them and get someone who can. They can do the job in India. They can do the job in Korea, in France, in Germany—then, by damn, we’ll do it here in Canada.
But would we ever do anything even close to that here? Not on your life. The malaise is so deep that even robbing our children of a proper education has not as yet motivated us to take action we all know should be taken—must be taken—if we are to compete globally.
Much of the decline is crazily enough the result of good intentions. We have always fancied ourselves in Canada as a kinder, gentler people. The 16-year-old doesn’t get along with his old man; no problem, get on the government nipple. The taxpayers will look after you. It’s the merciful thing to do, goes the mythology, at least the mythology of the Left, the ones I often only half jokingly describe as the granola-crunching, tree-hugging thug huggers.
The 14-year-old single mother; no problem, no shame, no chasing the father, just come on board the welfare train; we’ll look after you and, by the way, if you want some more children, that’s just fine and dandy too. The more you have the more we’ll pay you and as an extra bonus we’ll absolve you of all blame and responsibility; we’ll pretend it’s all society’s fault.
Whatever you do, don’t even think about raising the issue of morality. That’s an outdated judgmental word. The state owes you anything you want.
And how about the 26-year-old assembly line worker who gets laid off? What do we say to him? Hey man, no way you should drive a cab or flip burgers. That’s beneath you, man. You’re entitled to the same wages and benefits you were getting before. Take a lower-paying job? Are you nuts? That’s just the capitalist swine trying to take advantage of you. Besides which, if you don’t have a job it’s the government’s fault.
All done, at least originally, with the best of intentions. The Left, the political and intellectual elites, have most of us convinced this is the way to go. Many of us honestly believe we can measure a nation’s compassion by the number of people we have on welfare.
When Mike Harris came along and cut welfare payments by about 20 percent, within a year the welfare rolls in Ontario dropped by more than 200,000 people. Almost all got jobs, something most logical people would think was a wonderful thing. Logic, unfortunately, is pretty much a stranger to large numbers of Canadians, which explains their response. Many screamed bloody murder! Terrible, discrimination, cruel, the cuts are killing people, it’s outrageous was the mantra of many of my callers with echoes across the country. Some of the NDP’s leading lights went so far as to predict widespread rioting. “People will be dying in the streets,” I even had callers proclaiming.
Think of it. Mike Harris in his first four years as Premier saw an increase of some 700,000 jobs in Ontario. The welfare rolls were cut in half, thousands of people who had never worked a day in their lives before went out and got a job, but to this day the majority of Ontarians will tell you this was a very bad thing!
All of this after just one generation of socialism. Imagine what it will be like when our grandchildren begin running things! Unless, of course, we straighten them out.
FOUR
It’s Not My Fault!
At Kingston is a penitentiary that at one time housed both Karla and Paul. Paul, as you know, is still there. Karla—well that’s another story thanks to the “Buffalo Bob” Rae Government that signed off on her sweetheart deal. Or, as some would say, the deal with the devil! At the rear of that penitentiary are a number of sheds—almost truck-like in appearance. The prisoners, as you can imagine, call them something not exactly politically correct. Last word, trucks. First word rhymes with truck. You get the picture! Officially they are known as conjugal visitation modules. Not a bad idea actually. Behave yourself in jail and you’ll get a couple of hours’ privacy with your wife, or whomever.
But here again the kinder, gentler people, the granola-crunching thug huggers can’t get it right. The trucks may have to be discontinued. Why? Because misguided souls in charge won’t allow body searches of the visitors. It would contravene their privacy rights. As a result, this has become the main conduit of smuggled drugs into the prison. Even those inmates who want no part of smuggling have no choice. Either sneak the stuff into the cells or get a lead pipe in a place that can cause major damage! In our effort not to contravene human rights we totally abandon logic and, as often happens, trample on human rights.
That’s the great problem with the socialist approach. In their efforts to create this great egalitarian, utopian society where everyone takes public transit, where we all recycle everything and the government takes care of us from birth to death, they fail to take into account a basic fact of life: We are not all equal, never have been, and never will be. It just isn’t human nature. And, oh yes, something else very important. We are not all nice people!
Yes, we should do everything in our power to provide equal opportunity for everyone, but that doesn’t mean we will all end up equal.
Our society should act as a launching pad. Do everything we can to make sure we have an equal amount of rocket fuel for the launch, but after that it’s up to the individual. By no means is everyone going to make it to the moon. Heck, some won’t even make it much past the tops of the trees!
Those who truly cannot help themselves require our assistance, of course. One problem is we’re so busy with handouts to people who should be looking after themselves there’s almost nothing left over for those truly in need.
Look around, please. See who is getting the government’s money. What you will find, for the most part, is that the money goes to special-interest groups, those who can scream, threaten (the unions), and beg the loudest, or have the best lobbyists in Ottawa. And, of course, a fair chunk of our money goes to a few favoured businesses. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says that while some three billion dollars has been loaned out to a few major corporations such as Honeywell and Bombardier in the last ten years, less than five percent of our money has been returned to us!
One of the last House of Commons speeches delivered by Charles Penson, Conservative member from Peace River, Alberta, before his retirement from Parliament in 2005 blasted the government for “handing out billions of dollars in so-called loans to various profitable companies.” Declared Penson, “Those aren’t loans. Those are outright grants. At least call them what they really are. Tell the truth.” [Source: Hansard, the official verbatim report of the debates in the House.]
Think you could get a deal like that from your bank? Ha!
Now look around and see who really needs our help, and how much they get. In Ontario, disabled people are expected to live on a pension of $940 a month. Many seniors who have worked all their lives to help build this country are in desperate straits. The last time I checked, the allotment of baths in government nursing homes had been reduced to two a week. There’s just no money left for people who honestly need and deserve our help!
On the other hand we are telling those who could and should be looking out for themselves, especially our young people, that they have no means of self-determination. That they are virtually powerless against the terrible forces of capitalism.
Perhaps unwittingly, our new Governor General fell into the trap of downplaying individual responsibility when she addressed the Ontario Legislature on February 20, 2006:
While our society must fight crime, it must also get at the roots of crime.Too many Canadians, here in Toronto, in Northern Ontario and across the country are relegated to the margins and left to fend for themselves.”
She then continued:
As
