If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Canada isn't broke. Canadian politics is.

I spent an hour this morning listening to a panel on TVO discussing whether Canadian politics have become too toxic. The panel comprises mostly politicians or ex-politicians with the lone outlier being Tasha Kheiriddin, a consultant, author and (you guessed it) political commentator. No surprise that they all thought politics in Canada had become toxic and it is hard to disagree.

But the politicians on the panel are as much part of the problem as they would like to be part of the solution.

I am 77 years old, and have lived in Moose Creek, Ontario, Winnipeg, Calgary, Cultus Lake, B.C., Toronto, Chatham, New Brunswick, Bagotville, Quebec, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Metz, France, Toronto, Aurora, Ontario and Collingwood, Ontario. I have seen a bit of Canada and a bit of Europe. Canada is still the best place on Earth to live in my opinion.

I have an excellent memory (even photographic) which was the main reason I was able to switch from engineering to arts in third year university and graduate with the highest grades in the Faculty of Arts at Royal Military College and receive the History Medal. Reflecting back on my life in Canada, I can safely say I never heard the word “trans” defining gender until late in life, can count on one hand the number of times I have heard any Canadian (excluding politicians) utter a racist epithet or witness violence towards someone based on race, religion or sexual orientation. I grew up dirt poor, often without food in the house, and became rich as an adult. We didn’t know we were poor since everyone we knew lived just like us, from payday to payday. I had a happy childhood despite my mother’s schizophrenia, our poverty, and the difficult economic conditions we endured.

It was not all sweetness and light. My younger brother committed suicide, my older brother died of cancer, by mother died of starvation.

But for me Canada was the land of opportunity. At 18 years old, working for $15 a week and room and board on a farm in the Ottawa valley when my father, mother, brother and sister were heading West to relocate and dropped by the field where I was working. My dad rolled down the window of the car, offered his hand and said “good luck, son” and I knew, as I expected, from then on it was up to me. My older brother had left home at 16 and from then on it was up to him. Our family lacked the resources to provide financial help to either of us. He worked his way through university and became a lawyer, receiving the Order of Canada for charity work before his death from cancer. I went to Royal Military College, served a decade in the RCAF, and went on to a business career starting with an MBA from Western University.

My sister earned a PhD in Law, became an accomplished author and is today a realtor in Ottawa. She did that on her own.

Our successes in Canada derived from two factors - in Canada people enjoy the freedom to succeed or fail based on their own efforts. My younger brother failed leading to his suicide. My older brother, sister and myself enjoyed relative success. What separated us was effort.

What I loved about Canada was simple. Freedom, independence, the lack of barriers to success based on effort, and the relative absence of political dogma in Ottawa. Until more recently.

Today, what I see is politicians whose ambition is to change Canada, in their view for the better. Since Canada was already just fine, they had to create the illusion of problems and then promise to fix them. The problems they created are absurd - LGBTQ rights, trans rights, climate change nonsense, “system racism”, income inequality, and a plethora of what they defined to be “microagressions”. When things are good, you have to really stretch to find something wrong to persuade voters to elect you to “change things”.

Canadian society has been the most tolerant, inclusive and diverse on Earth since I was born and likely before that. But political leaders make it a point to say otherwise. Create problems, promise to fix them, get elected and help yourself.

Looking back over the years, my most telling insight is how little difference I experienced being poor and being rich. I have had wonderful, life long friendships, beautiful and brilliant children, and enjoy my retirement by continuing my education, currently completing a Masters’ Degree in Securities Law at Osgoode.

Canada’s problems today have been created by its politicians and their interventions into Canada’s economy, always couched in the language of “for the greater good”. House prices are beyond the reach of many Canadians, a direct result of government policies. The major problems are threefold:

Housing Costs

With 2.5 billion acres of undeveloped land and constructions costs (according to Altus Group that publishes construction cost estimates annually) of about $200 a square foot, there is no reason why a three bedroom bungalow of 1,500 square feet should cost $1 million or more. Restrictive zoning policies, artificially low interest rates for a decade, and municipal corruption have made housing unaffordable.

Rising inflation

A combination of rampant government spending and a nonsensical attack on Canada’s energy industry have created the inflationary environment. CO2 is not only harmless but also essential to life on Earth but politicians saw political capital in promoting climate fears, attacking the energy industry, and curbing the economic benefits of Canada’s 175 billion barrels of oil reserves.

Excessive debt at all levels

Canada’s government debt levels are now unsustainable. Borrowing money to buy voter support has become the primary tool for poltical leaders to rally support. Canada’s national debt has doubled in a decade to over $1 trillion. Driven by nosebleed housing costs and rising rents, exacerbated by artificially high energy costs, people have had to borrow to make ends meet and consumer debt now exceeds $2 trillion. Having created the debt problem, people are looking to politicians to help having been encouraged to believe governments have some source of money that does not come from its citizens, an absurd concept.

Conclusion

Canada is fine, but its government is toxic. Deregulate the economy, repeal the restrictive laws that curtail both energy and housing development, and stop pretending Canada is intolerant, racist, bigoted, and oppressive. We have the best piece of real estate on the planet and it is time government got out of our way to enjoy it.