Canada~Split Loyalties in Leaders

Some people think having an American Prime Minister would be no big deal. Well it is a very big deal for me. This exploration is an attempt at shining a light on why it matters, to me. I fail to see how anyone can lead or represent a country, when they have split loyalties.

If following your religion is your first loyalty, then perhaps government representation of all people~all faiths, is not a job for you? Aside from Andrew Scheer’s already obvious loyalty to Opus Dei (https://thewalrus.ca/the-rising-political-influence-of-the-catholic-right/) which brings his fundamentalist religious beliefs to our governance, his secret loyalty to another country, while holding MP and Speaker positions is beyond outrageous.

His hypocrisy in attacking other people who have dual citizenship while not revealing his own, reminds me of the closeted gay man speaking out against LGBTQ.

But the real clincher for me is, Canada is a leader for peace, we signed on to the World Court; the US along with China, India, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Qatar and Israel did not. Canada led the world to ban landmines, Ottawa Treaty was not signed by USA, China or Russia. Canada has very different values. Much is discussed about Canadian values, but what do we really mean? Our collective values are not religious values, they are human values. We do not tolerate other cultures, we embrace them. We do not tolerate hate speech, racism, bullies, misogyny, homophobic attitudes and oppression; we stand up to them. We need a PM that stands for Canada, alone.

Extremes in religious ideology, ignorance and indoctrination gave Canada Residential Schools, the Indian Act and other oppressive regimes. The people broke through those systems with education, compassion and awareness. While government at the time did little to stand up to racism and slavery, people in Canada worked to help people get to freedom.

Immigration issues become more difficult with split loyalties. We need a Prime Minister that is not going to cower under pressure from another country’s ideology and priorities. Canadians understand that more wars and climate catastrophes around the world will result in more refugees. Reaching to help is a human quality, something Canadians value.

Choices in going to war or working for Peace, come from a very different mindset. We can’t fight for peace. One has a closed fist, the other has an open hand. 

Developing our resources for our benefit is also put in a conflicting environment with a dual loyalty representative. We already had Harper in power for more than 12 years and no pipelines were built to new markets. Instead, we fed the US corporate machine. That was not to our benefit in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Canada as a whole. It kept us dependent on one market, which ensured the price was cheap to export and although we had a return on that, it was not a fair return by world standards.

Rather than hold the people who made those choices to account, the message was sent that the federal government was at fault under the new JustinTrudeau’s leadership. He is a Liberal party leader and the actual events, or decisions were made under Progressive Conservative governments federally and provincially, and then under the new federal reform/alliance party led by Stephen Harper and renamed ‘Conservative party of Canada’ although many realize it is nothing like the old PC’s. 

Stephen Harper signed a deal with China that limited the next government in choices for Canadians around the pipeline. 

“The original investment protection deal — which treaty law expert Gus Van Harten said could be in violation of the Canadian Constitution — was quietly signed in 2012 in Vladisvostok, Russia, but was delayed for two years due to public outcry.” https://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/harper-oks-potentially-unconstitutional-china-canada-fipa-deal-coming-force-october-1

Stephen Harper was the only Prime Minister found in contempt of Parliament, but news media barely raised their eyebrows. After Harper lost the last election he took his right wing mindset to a global venue with the International Democratic Union, which supports right wing parties in becoming government all over the world, including Andrew Scheer’s ‘conservative party’ in Canada.

Avro Arrow is another historical moment when our government bowed to the pressure of the USA gov. We lost not only millions of dollars in superior technology, material, years of work for our aero-industry, but we also eventually lost the people who worked in that industry. 

“On 20 February 1959, before the Arrow could enter military duty, the Diefenbaker government cancelled the Arrow project. Overnight, more than 14,000 people, many of them highly skilled, lost their jobs. The day would come to be known as Black Friday in the Canadian aviation industry. By July 1959, all aircraft had been cut apart with blowtorches, while blueprints, models, designs and machines used to make the planes were destroyed. Scraps were sold to a Hamilton, Ontario, junk dealer for 6.5¢ per pound. Job losses grew to at least 25,000 at the time of Avro’s dissolution in 1962.”

 

Trudeau’s father, Pierre, helped us enshrine our Bill of Rights into our Constitution,   Today it stands as a jewel in our nations accomplishments as a people.  

P.E.T. (Pierre E. Trudeau) also stood up to the USA regarding our relationship with Cuba, which is very different than what the USA government wanted from us. He did not cave to their bully pressure. He was committed to Canada. Justin Trudeau had to reinforce that independent position when he became PM. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cuba-students-us-canada-trump-1.3853658 )

“On December 2, 1981, the Canadian House of Commons approved Trudeau’s constitutional reform resolution with a vote of 246 to 24 (only the representatives from Quebec dissented), and on April 17, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II declared Canada’s independence from the British Parliament.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau

He was not conflicted in his loyalties. He always stood for Canadians and Canada’s best interests. 

In 2003, then Prime Minister Jean Chretien faced another pressure from the USA government, to join them in invading Iraq. PM Chretien said ‘no’.  

Canada is a sovereign country. We need our government to represent the best interests of Canadians. Strong leadership in our Prime Minister and Cabinet is critical to remaining a sovereign nation.

In contrast to PM Chretien’s courage and against Canadians’ wishes, PM Harper followed along with the USA, “The truth is that Canadian forces are now involved in a war which was never debated or voted upon by the House of Commons. I absolutely concur with those who believe that before we further risk the lives of our men and women in uniform this entire endeavour must be subjected to public scrutiny. Failure to do so debases our democracy. I also think it sells short the capacity of Canadians to make informed decisions on such matters.” https://nupge.ca/content/mr-harper-goes-war

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982 is part of Canada’s Constitution, it guarantees Canadians Freedom of conscience and religion. When a political party espouses loyalty to their religion over our Charter, Canadians need to be concerned. 

When a political candidate represents Canadians in government, we must ensure that they are not in a position where their loyalties are in question, or they are incapable of making choices that serve Canadians and Canada first. We have an incredible military in Canada to serve Canadian interests, to work with our Allies but NOT for them. 

My personal sense on this matter is that once a person decides they wish to serve in public office, they must be clear on their loyalty to the people they serve. If they had to recuse themselves every time an issue arose that conflicts with their loyalties, be it religious belief or citizenship, they are no longer effective in those positions. 

Every day we see situations where foreign entities are influencing other countries’ elections, or sending spies to infiltrate for ‘secrets’ . We recently saw that a Conservative MP, Tony Clements sitting on the Canadian Security Council and also the International Democratic Union, was compromised for ‘sexting’ and being blackmailed for it. This is not a small scandal. This is a failure to vet candidates and to pay attention to who is running our country.

The recent ‘blackface’ pictures that were used from Justin Trudeau’s past (approximately 20 yrs ago), to discredit him while running for re-election, were leaked to and from foreign media, with little investigation for context before they were released. 

It is interesting to note that only recently, 2019 the Canadian Opera is reviewing its practice of ‘Blackface’ in performances, so to suggest that anyone should have known this was considered racist twenty years ago, is absurd. It was not something well discussed until these pictures emerged.  (Read the full article: Dirty Tricks Behind Trudeau Brownface/Blackface Scandal? )

Harper’s conservatives benefited from Robocalls to suppress the vote, which apparently came through foreign interference in three recent elections. Only one person (working for CPC) was charged and he maintains his innocence. Watch the details here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/edaycautionarytale

Canada is an amazing country, we value peace, freedom, multiculturalism and our environment. If we want to maintain our sovereignty and stop governments from serving outside interests before Canadians, we must vet all candidates appropriately for the job they will be doing on our behalf. 

We are heavily indoctrinated by media, religion and often ‘one party state’ mentality, as we’ve seen in Alberta with one party ruling from 1935,( Social Credit,  with right wing Christian ideology, then for over 44 years a centre right ideology in Progressive Conservatives )  We had a short break of with NDP under Rachel Notley for 4 years, but quickly we returned to a far right wing ideology under Jason Kenney’s UCP after they took over the two fractured conservative wings. The level of hate/violence and intimidation towards candidates running for election who do not share those RightWing Conservative views escalated. 

Did the relaxed media rules put in by Stephen Harper influence this shift? (opinion piece shines some light) Perhaps. This is not democracy. Democracy requires many voices, many choices and clear policies and loyalties declared by candidates. Informed consent is the only way Canadians can fully participate in our governance. We need facts and we need to know our political representatives are not serving ‘two or more Masters’. 

Canadians are not just small Americans, nor the nice ones, nor the cousins who live in the cold. We have very different values. We do not invade other nations for our corporate friends. We do not rally people to war to show our muscle. We do not support segregation, we embrace multiculturalism. We don’t need a gun to shop for groceries. We hunt for food in the bush, not in our cities. We do not ask God to bless our country over others, we don’t have a religious state nor do we want one. 

Canadians by and large show their patriotism in quiet ways. We care about our neighbour, we know that when the neighbours’ house is in disrepair it affects our property values, when their kids are hungry, we hear their cries, when children are not educated we know they are vulnerable to indoctrination via street gangs, religion, cults, etc.  Universal Healthcare means that when my co-worker is sick, they’ll be taken care of and that ensures a healthier society. These are some of the things we value. 

The influx of US media and republican values on our society is hurting us. The call for more guns, less control, by Andrew Scheer is an indicator of his American influence, whether he wants to hide it or not. 

Canadians do not want to join our neighbours to the south in ‘thoughts and prayers’ cycles. The fluid extreme religious ideology that runs through the republican party in the USA has infiltrated our culture, via the new conservative party, while their use of the name conservative is misleading. (Read Tom McMillan’s book ‘Not My Party’ or watch this video where he talks about the takeover  )

It is not who we are, although some might suggest it is who we are becoming. We hold beliefs that support social programs that support people in basic necessities of life, that ensure our society can thrive. We don’t subscribe to the ‘survival of the fittest’ mindset which is often promoted as ‘capitalism’. More often it is ‘predatory capitalism’ that exploits rather than enhances society.  In truth when one part of society fails the entire society suffers. When poverty runs rampant so does addiction, violence, illness, which result in more prisons, more dysfunction, because we are all connected. Corporations don’t like paying taxes, we’re told, but without the infrastructure in place, corporations cannot thrive either. Desperate people are easier to manipulate. 

Why do more poor people enlist in militaries? 

Keeping the masses in poverty, also ensures steady streams of bodies for military missions. Keeping people in fear of a potential enemy in anyone who doesn’t look like them, adds to the manipulation factor. 

At this point I’ve shown you that sometimes a Canadian PM has to stand up against a foreign power and that means we need to ensure their values line up with our collective values before we give them keys to our nation. We know it can be done, because Pierre E. Trudeau, Jean Chretien, Justin Trudeau have all shown us it’s possible. They said no while retaining our respectful attitudes to our neighbour. We also know that some people cannot stand up to the bully, as with Diefenbaker and Harper. 

We need elected officials who can make hard choices, even unpopular choices, but that serve the greatest good for all, not just some of the people and not based on a religious ideology or foreign pressure. 

Beware of People who Have Hidden Masters 

It takes practice to be diplomatic and secure. It takes experience to be confident and open minded. Confidence does not come from being a doormat, a doormat comes from lack of confidence. Lack of confidence often comes from lack of education and experience in life.

Education helps form vision~ indoctrination does not. It takes courage to be a leader of a country such as Canada. We are unique and worth standing on guard for. 

It may not have been an issues years ago to have public officials with dual citizenships, but it matters very much today. Perhaps had we been more discerning in the past, some of the harsh ideology from the USA might not have infiltrated our media, our politics and our education system. 

Aside from the unnecessary lies that Andrew Scheer has told during his time in public office, the secrecy around his agenda, his hidden dual citizenship and constant deflecting attacks on Justin Trudeau’s person, rather than policies, makes this election like no other. Mr Scheer went to great lengths to fabricate a story about his ‘lower class’ childhood, to attack Mr Trudeau’s perceived ‘higher class’ lifestyle, but what purpose does that serve other than to reveal personal jealousy over another man’s life? Again, this speaks to lack of confidence, but more than that, he’s not capable of being proud of his own heritage. Canada is a nation to be proud of, not to smear, not to deny our past, not to try to emulate our neighbours to the south. 

We see those smears coming from several people in Scheer’s party and supporting his party, like  Michelle Rempel who has spoken on US media attacking our country and insulting our country on her social media.

Putting down Canada for NOT being more like the USA, is not something an elected member of Parliament ought to be doing. Doug Ford the Premier of one of the largest provinces in Canada, was seen at a venue in the USA, bragging that he is a ‘republican’ . Mr Harper had a meeting with the President of the USA while our Canadian government was working through a revamped NAFTA. Mr Scheer as opposition leader criticized our PM for not doing enough. On a global tour to promote his book, Harper backed Trump. https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/why-does-stephen-harper-have-trumps-back/

The Maclean’s cover featuring four Premiers and Andrew Scheer calling themselves the resistance is again, very undemocratic. Their job is to represent the people of their provinces, in the federation. Not attack the legitimately elected government of Canada, but to work with it. At the time of this writing we have two Premiers not serving their provinces, but instead campaigning for Andrew Scheer, while the taxpayer foots the bill. Again, we have split loyalties. 

Conflicted loyalties and allegiances are dangerous for sovereign nations. 

Today we know better. We need to raise the bar and expect more from our elected officials, so we can be more as a nation. To encourage more innovation, creativity, harmony and climate action that helps all of us thrive, must be the mission going forward, not more oppression.  

Being a Canadian is more than waving a flag on July 1st and voting without being informed. I will never vote away my rights or those of anyone else. Canada is free now, but that freedom is not something to take for granted. 

I haven’t told most Canadians anything they didn’t know already, in this opinion piece. My intention is to ask Canadians to be informed before they vote, to take care with their responsibilities to stand on guard. Democracy is fragile and it can never be imported. It must come from the people within the nation that wants it, guards it and participates in it. Do not consent to an ideology that is based on soundbites or rhetoric, please do you own homework.

Here’s to a fair election, no split loyalties and with very democratic outcomes, for an even better Canada tomorrow!

Catherine