Disconnect between politicians and the people
Everyone now knows that Canadian politicians have been taking inappropriate vacations while the rest of us are told not to travel because of COVID-19. How delightful. The double standard shown in this is unforgivable. It represents a level of hypocrisy as yet unknown even by the most arrogant of the political class.
But it has more ominous implications as well. In Canada there is now an ever widening gulf between the people and their representatives. Politicians, once considered accountable to the people, no longer feel they need to listen to their constituents. They seem to think they can follow whatever radical ideological bent they wish even if the majority of their constituents don’t agree with it. Apparently they also don’t feel the rules apply to them.
This kind of disconnect is dangerous and could have tragic results for our democracy and nation. We should not ignore it. Combined with the already waning power of parliament in the face of growing authority from the judiciary, and the imposition of legislation that dictates values, and beliefs on Canadians while limiting free speech and expression, we could very easily be entering an unwanted new era of violent contention we have not seen before.
Canadians cannot afford to be ruled by MPs who do not care about those they have been elected to represent. If that is the sad direction we are going, then the immediate future may be one of the worst in our history. Canadians deserve better representation and a more hopeful future, and there is one tried and true way to secure it: an overwhelming response at the ballot box. Let’s hope that’s what happens in the next election, the one Trudeau says he doesn’t want to call but probably will.
Perry Foster
Duncan