Canada Needs A Leader
The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” – President Zelensky of Ukraine to U.S. representatives, according to the U.S. embassy.
Such words were never spoken by Canada’s Prime Minister. It took only a handful of semi-trailer truck drivers for him to get out of town, hiding in an undisclosed location.
Canada desperately needs a real leader. A man or women with a vision for the country. A leader who can create a national vision shared by a serious majority of Canadians. A leader who can then actually make that vision come to fruition. A leader who will do things to make Canada better and make it grow and thrive, not one who will do what is popular enough in the polling to ensure votes. We’ve had enough of polls coming first, speeches coming second, and reality not coming at all. Looking at recent elections, they are more reminiscent of the midway at the fall fair with each tent promising great prizes, all they want in return is your vote.
Looking at the current field of actual and potential Prime Ministers, there is not a one of them with a true vision for Canada. Each has selected policies, carefully crafted to be acceptable to their base electorate and to further the expectations of their big donors. Policies wrapped in a bubble wrap of buzzwords and vaguely described promises. Promises designed to give the Canadian public the idea that they plan to do something without actually committing to doing anything. Things that Canada needs, things that would help Canada grow economically, socially, or strategically are discounted, promises that may be implemented in 10, 20 or 30 years. Time frames, far enough in the future to ensure that the party making the promise will not be in power when the actual due date arrives and if by some miracle something actually gets done, the party originally promising it can still take credit.
In fact, Canada’s politicians have only one objective and that is to put their big money donors in power and then, to dutifully do their bidding. Corporate donors on the right and socialist donors on the left. Corporate giveaways for the rich or giveaways for special interests, either way, the rich get richer, politicians get the trappings of power, Canada stays stagnant in the world, and Canadians live in a fantasy world where Utopia is just around the corner.
Where is Canada’s thriving economy? Where is Canada’s population explosion? Where are the great Canadian technological leaps and great innovations? Where are the accolades on the world stage? Where is Canada’s independence from our neighbour to the south or any other superpower who wants to control us?
The Confederation Bridge , one of Canada’s great engineering feats, connects Prince Edward Island to the mainland. It was built nearly thirty years ago, in 1993. Canada’s first High Speed rail line? Well that doesn’t exist. How many new seaports have been built? sorry, none. Where is our world class aviation industry that competes with Boeing and AirBus? Sorry that was given away on Feb, 20, 1959. The top two aircraft corporations in Canada today are both U.S. owned.
We have been talking about northern development since at least 2015 and with no actual development in sight, we are still talking, . Development of course means new towns, new roads, new rail lines, new ports, new coast guard ships and new bases, a new, navigable modernized northwest passage, or new industries, and NOT new commissions, new proposals, new initiatives, new open competitions (which are kept secret, and no action.
A 1960s Vision
In the 1960 an innovative Canadian presented a plan that, had it been implemented could have seen a Canadian population today of 70 million and a GDP rivalling that of United Kingdom with new highways, new railways and new metropolises. So says a Sep 01, 2016 National Post article.
Richard Rohmer — a lawyer, author, decorated RCAF Wing Commander, and Canadian visionary, lead a charge to build a “second Canada” on top of the old one. A plan to develop the sparsely populated boreal forest region that Rohmer came to call “Mid-Canada.” A plan to create a second Canada built along the lines of a Ukraine or Norway across the middle of Canada from the east side of the rockies to to the southern tip of James Bay, and on to Labrador. Mid Canada would be home to northern Canadians who want a life in a dynamic northern environment. Less city noise and gridlock and more space and nature.
This plan that could be implemented today, but it won’t likely happen for two reasons. Canada’s do nothing politicians, don’t have any vision let alone one as large as Rohmer’s, and a growing penchant for Canadians to want everything for free. I’m not saying that individual Canadians are lazy freeloaders they’re not. I’m saying that politicians are constantly telling Canadians that they should expect giveaways. Who can expect people to say no. Politicians don’t present them with the ideas, visions and a future that they can embrace. Ideals Canadians can aspire to, It has been done before. Current prosperity in Canada is largely owed to some grandiose Rohmer-esque scheme or another. The St Laurence Seaway made Montreal, Toronto, Sarnia Ont. and Thunder Bay international shipping ports.
Spend and Pay cycle
Our successive governments follow a pattern where one party spends enormous amounts on giveaways followed by the next government which is forced to implement high taxes or severely limited spending in order to pay for those giveaways. No government implements visionary growth in Canada. A process which would first provide a strong, growing economy, that then could implement social ideals that can be paid for. Canada’s per capita GDP should be much higher, but the spend and pay cycle ensures limited growth. Australia, to whom Canadians often compare ourselves, does much better than us. Many E.U. countries do better as well. One thing that Australia doesn’t have, of course is a huge superpower on their doorstep carrying both the economic carrot and the political stick. One minute Canada and Canadians are terrible people and a security threat, the next we are important trading partners. One minute, large American corporations are trying to drive Canadian aircraft companies out of the business, and the next we are paying billions of dollars for new aircraft from one of their biggest military industrial corporations. And we are doing this, after our government said these exact planes were too expensive and we didn’t need them Are these simply changes in the global dynamic or just the effects of differing kinds of threats? Canadian politicians are constantly espousing the great alliance we have with the U.S.. Rarely is the same heard from Americans. Our visions should be our own, Canadian!
Canada’s per capita GDP.
In 2020, the gross domestic product per capita in Canada was around 43,294.8 U.S. dollars.
Australia’s per capita GDP
Gross Domestic Product per capita in Australia was last recorded at 58,020.45 US dollars in 2020.
Germany’s per capita GDP
Germany Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per Capita reached 50,760.598 USD in Dec 2021
The CBC
Canada’s press should be the voice of the people, and should be forcing our government to invest in Canada’s growth in the world. But while Fox News is the servant of the political right in the U.S., CBC is the servant of the political left in Canada. The CBC’s function is to explain to the Canadian people why the left leaning parties are really the only ones speaking the truth. The only ones taking care of the people. The CBC supports the talking points of the left and demonizes any other point of view. One needs to remember that federal budget dollars pay for the CBC, and the parties of the left have been very generous to them. The CBC isn’t part of the solution. It should be, but isn’t. The CBC is a large part of the problem, The CBC will make a huge deal, and praise the actions of a government project that will start in 20 years and to listen to them, the implementation is already underway. And the other media outlets in Canada? Rather than contradicting the CBC and doing the job of putting the politician’s feet to the fire, and encouraging the development of the country and speaking out about do nothing politics, they simply mimic the reporting of the CBC
On December 20, 2016, the Government of Canada announced that a new Arctic Policy Framework. The talking points of new framework became a bold opportunity to shape and direct change in the north by collaborating with governments, northerners and Indigenous governments and organizations.
2022 – PRESENT
“Why, in spite of substantive progress over the past 40 years, including remarkable achievements such as land claims agreements, constitutional inclusion and precedent-setting court rulings, does the (Canadian) Arctic continue to exhibit the worst national social indicators for basic wellness? Why, with all the hard-earned tools of empowerment, do many individuals and families not feel empowered and healthy?”
— Mary Simon, A New Shared Arctic Leadership Model
Canada’s Prime Minister
When I envision our current Prime Minister, I see the same picture as when I am watching the evening news. The person speaking is simply mouthing the words put into their mouth by the person in the control booth. The people on camera are simply talking heads, put there for their looks and charm. The Prime Minister makes a speech carefully edited and vetted by the people behind the scenes, The people actually making the decisions. I don’t know, and no one will ever know just who those people are, but we can be assured that they, not we, will benefit from the words spoken.
Canada needs a Leader, one who will build a greater Canada. One with a great vision. Maybe we can convince president Zelensky to come to Canada.
