Canada In Peril

It seems each generation is called upon to defend hard-won freedoms and basic democracy.  The worst aspects of human nature keep rising, especially among those with bent ideas.  The adversaries are very right in their own eyes and will go to unusual lengths to impose their hurtful ideas on others.  We must educate ourselves about historic truth, and remember and celebrate the good while recognizing the enemy.

First, we must admit problems exist.  We don't like to admit it, but Canada has real enemies who mean us real harm.  Worse, most Canadians have no idea of the ideological dangers that threaten us, let alone the missiles already aimed at major Canadian centres.

Some recent immigrants understand this better than we do, having recently fled both ideology and physical threats.  But Canadians live as though we're innocent bystanders to the rest of the world's troubles.  We must prepare each new generation to defend itself against the next inevitable political-religious assault that will come.

Indeed, it has already begun.  The social disorder and conflict seen in our streets and universities are evidence of the active undermining of Canada's cultural and intellectual foundations.  History shows that past empires fall from internal decay, magnified by outside hostile influences.

Marxist extremes never go away as they just get rebranded.  The current DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) fad from corporate trainers is an example.  DEI teaching falsely claims to promote fair treatment and full participation for all people, as particular groups say they have been historically underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability.

Although DEI is best known as a form of corporate training, it has also found its way into academia, schools, and the medical system.  Millions have been spent on this insidious fad.  Yet, it has done nothing to improve our social world.  Instead, it has poisoned intellectual discourse and undermined free speech and academic freedom.  For good reason, it has been called cultural Marxism.

One could make a case study out of BC's adoption of the acid Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum, developed by the education ministry.  Introduced in 2016 by the then BC Liberals (now BC United) it is administered province-wide, although teachers could customize lesson plans as they saw fit.

The results were often age-inappropriate or just odious propaganda.  Naïve provincial politicians had no clue of the sexually deceptive agenda they had just accepted.  It was said to make schools feel safe for everyone, regardless of how one expressed their gender.  It declared itself against discrimination.

However, in the hands of those implementing it, nice-appearing surface jargon became a pipeline for social malevolence.  Many parents were horrified to learn it was an ideological Trojan horse.  In defense of their children, parents made it a big political issue in the hope that the next government would get rid of it.

It is often the young who are targeted, in an attempt to bend malleable minds using the power imbalance between student and teacher.  Those doing so, first use hard-won freedoms to make the case for every debilitating social vice under the guise of anti-discrimination.  Then the freedoms are gradually dispensed with and traditional goodness is replaced by a new order and a new age of totalitarian politically correct groupthink.

The remedy however, is not to overthrow our educational structures, but for the community to carefully monitor what is taught. 

Using an extreme case to illustrate the principle, National Socialism in Germany festered in the context of the Russian Revolution and the Marxist provocations in that society.  The activities of the radical left were no justification for the overreaction, but was an element responsible for the 'Mein Kampf response.'   Extremism and lies breed more of the same.

Public education is a delegated trust, and within a broad spectrum, there must be transparency and accountability.

Good government can become better, but poor government always descends from bad to worse.  In Canada, that is where we are today.

We are challenged by offshore ideas, agents, and countries that abhor the traditional Canadian version of human rights, freedom, and democracy.  To our peril, we don’t want to think about it, but we must.  There are real conflicts with real tactics at the local community, national, and international levels.

Going beyond describing problems, one has to know what our desired normal is.  Most Canadians have concluded that our present NDP-Liberal government is not the normal we should have for our cultural and economic health.  Conservatism in 2024 is the proper response, but we must remember what it is, and not what non-Conservatives malevolently misrepresent.

For example, in a speech to a gathering of law enforcement officers, Pierre Poilievre said he was prepared to consider a social defense of last resort to use the whole law which includes the "Notwithstanding Clause" if found necessary to defend the Criminal Code from a damaging court ruling.  In response, non-conservatives set their hair on fire, claiming the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was under threat and the Conservative Leader had shown himself to be an anti-human rights demagogue.

Conservatism seeks the truth that has emerged over time, drawing from the deep wellsprings of human experience and building on proven foundations.  It fosters order and the flourishing of human beings as they live in benevolent relationships with one another.  There is respect and a contract between ancestors, the living, and the yet-unborn.

Conservatives are not hard ideologues and blindly partisan advocates or impractical idealists and theorists.  In contrast, the conservative mindset does not mainly seek to oust but to include.  Anyone can destroy, but who can build?  It is a conservative social project to build, renew, sustain, and create through cooperation rather than coercion.

Conservatism is rooted in the acknowledgment that God is our Creator and that the human soul sojourns through this realm toward its eternal transcendent fulfillment.  We are flawed human beings in need of redemption, and capable of great evil as well as great good.  As humankind is fallible by nature, the conservative seeks to limit the damage done through the abuse of power by limiting its concentration.  The conservative fosters the fullness of human potential by protecting the freedom and dignity of each person, acknowledging that freedom comes with responsibilities, as rights and duties are linked.  Everyone is accountable.

For the conservative, each person is equal in dignity and before the law, but gloriously individual and unequal in talents, aptitudes, and outcomes.  The conservative celebrates the uniqueness of individuals and does not level to eliminate differences, yet intervenes against injustice.

The conservative honours the family as the essential building block of civilization.  Conservatives value the rich diversity of relationships, organizations, and private associations that make up civil society.

The conservative is more concerned with culture than politics because the political realm is a derivative.  Political problems arise from the root of moral and spiritual problems, which blend into the economic realm.  Conservatives believe that caring for our neighbor is so important that it should not be left to the government alone.  The bureaucracies of government cannot love.  That is why there is a preference for the private sector, with our own time, talent, and treasure.  The best way to resist the problems of big government is to do a better job with small government.

In the current Canadian dilemma, a partial answer is found in the principles of the Conservative Party of Canada Constitution.

It begins with a belief in a balance between fiscal responsibility, compassionate social policy that empowers the less fortunate by promoting self-reliance and equality of opportunity, and the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families, and free associations.  The doubters and cynics have never read the Conservative Party Constitution and also their instructive Policy Declaration document.

But a more complete answer would acknowledge that Conservatives believe there is truth and that truth is knowable.  They believe the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance should be practiced in both private and public life.  Virtues, not temporary values, define the human soul.

Love is the highest motivation of the human person, and the purpose of life itself is to know God, to love Him and serve Him, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Our ultimate fulfillment is in the transcendence of love, so well put by the Lord Jesus Himself, when he was asked what was the greatest commandment:

"37 Love the Eternal One your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.  38 This is the first and greatest commandment.  39 And the second is nearly as important, Love your neighbor as yourself.  40 The rest of the law, and all the teachings of the prophets, are but variations on these themes." (Matt. 22: 37-40, The Voice.)