Not the Canada I remember...

Since long before Covid 19 hit our nation, our Government of Canada has continually failed us or at the very least failed to tell us the truth. Canada is known for being a safe, opportunist country where equality reigns and all of our citizens are supportive of one another. We are known for having an excellent healthcare system offering most free public healthcare. Unfortunately when the pandemic hit and for the years to follow so much attention had been drawn to how corrupted and dangerous our political system encapsulates. It shined a bright light on the gravity of their roles as politicians. It highlighted how their decisions could easily have a negative ripple effect that could easily damage or destroy parts of our society. I’m not saying that they should have handled the pandemic differently because truthfully I believe they did what they could with the very limited information on hand. It was a very unprecedented time not just in Canada, but across the world. However, the majority of other decisions that they made, and decisions that are continuing to be made today are the issue. They need to collectively sit back and review their choices thus far, and try to identify what went wrong, so that going forward they could back their choices with integrity and honor. In my experience, politics is a very juvenile, egotistical popularity contest that allows people in power to make the same mistakes over and over again. It allows our leaders to fail us time and time again, failing consistently to honor the positions and the power they carry. Not all politicians are bad, and I do believe there are some that lead because they want to, not for themselves but for our society. The issue is that the good ones are the minority, and they get drowned out in almost every headline.

There are terrible, and sometimes dangerous things happening outside our front doors. Whilst our society begins to crash and crumble before our very eyes, politicians remain in the House Of Commons engaging in petty, childlike arguments. The House Of Commons has become a breeding ground for ‘he said, she said’ childish behavior in a place where they should be honoring their roles and the citizens who place trust in them to do so.

Let’s take some time to review some of the issues that are happening right now on a federal level. I think it’s important to remember that this doesn’t even begin to put a dent in the reality we live in, but it does draw some attention to as well as draws some parallels and patterns of behavior. Unfortunately, our governance in Canada is flooded with cowards who most of the time either ignore or are unaware of the gravity of their choices. This isn’t a pinpointed issue, it doesn’t belong solely to one province; rather it affects every inch of our nation, coast to coast.

Economic red flags are flying high over us, and unfortunately, each and every Canadian is suffering in the face of economical stress. Due in part to politics, Canada is experiencing the highest inflation in over forty years. Held back by five-hundred billion dollars in deficit, not including Covid. The nation is seeing increased taxes, new taxes, and an overall increased cost of living, all the while our Prime Minister continues to spend irresponsibly, flooding our economy with cheap cash and, spending almost a half trillion dollars which is more than any Prime Minister in Canadian history. In the wake of this inflamed economy, people continue to suffer, while no action is taken to support the people. Pierre Poilievre is quoted saying “ One in five Canadians are skipping meals simply because they cannot afford groceries. In one single month, one and a half million Canadians made use of food banks and rely on them to feed their families”. Our cost of living is so inflated it’s shocking. Parents barely see their children anymore because the only way to pay the bills is to work nonstop. Single parents almost don’t even stand a chance of having only one major income. People around my age of 23 will most likely never be able to buy a house of their own. An entire generation feels ruined and there isn’t nearly enough support available. The age of retirement has risen continually with inflation causing the elderly to work essentially until they drop. Citizens who are critically ill or terminally are deemed fit for work based on ridiculous eligibility criteria. Veterans remain struggling with homelessness and hunger. Men and Women who sacrificed their lives to protect and serve our country are back home, with very little access to the support they need, which is disgusting, seeing homelessness rates increase. All the while we continue to give millions to foreign aid. As harsh as this is, we need to be protecting our people first before giving millions of dollars anywhere else. This issue is not exclusive to any single province, and it is no longer a crisis that’s coming; It’s a crisis among us all, coast to coast.

Sadly Canada is facing many issues, including a sector I never imagined could be broken- Health care. Public and quality care have always been the foundation of our free healthcare, however, the pandemic resulted in a lack of quality care and as such is very difficult to access at all. While in the House Of Commons Joel Harden, MPP stated “we always have a flu season, but we do not regularly have seven children needing to be resuscitated on the weekend—- children are fighting to breathe in Canada? In CANADA!!!----- We keep hearing a story of how nothing is wrong here, which doesn’t correspond with reality. They say that it’s the best it’s ever been. Shouldn’t we applaud them for their innovative spirits in these moments? They need to consider the ethical implications of saying ‘crisis, what crisis?’. Ontario's premier Doug Ford deserves at least the opportunity to honor the office he holds”.

Emergency room wait times have now reached 22.9 hours. One strategy to combat this issue is through investment in private clinics for surgeries which will be available at itemized cost. Bill 7 legislated transferring patients waiting for long-term care into facilities that would charge 400$ each day to be placed somewhere not even of their choosing. People are not being put first as they should be. While all of this is happening our government officials are busy reciting nursery rhymes to mock one another. As far as I’m concerned this is the opposite of honoring the seat they hold, they have shown no respect to their oath or to the public who gave them power in the first place. To say the government values and sees the incredible work of doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff, only reinforces how truly blind they are to the severity of the crisis at hand. If they saw the crisis they would be traveling an entirely different path. For them to have the audacity as leaders to say there’s no crisis here. To say that it’s the best it’s ever been. For them to say that they have not said or done anything that should cause hesitance regarding the availability of emergency care is hypocritical Especially when out the other side of their mouths we hear of record-high wait times, canceled procedures and surgeries, patients over 14 in the ICU would be moved to adult hospitals, and now patients are dying in horrifying, and wildly unethical conditions. Five of the biggest unions responsible for many medical professionals in our country have stated that this government has failed miserably to do its job in protecting the citizens.

In my province, we are seeing some of the most inhumane conditions. Recently a two-year-old was waiting to be seen by emergency room staff, and before they were seen the baby crashed. There were no rooms available to perform the cardiac arrest protocols, and sadly the toddler died in the hallway of an emergency room on the floor. Our children are dying, in conditions, no human should die in. Why is this still not something our premier shows any interest in? Putting my dog down was held in a much more ethical fashion and with the utmost respect, when is this going to be enough for you to see it? CHEO, a major pediatric hospital in Ottawa Ontario, has had to call in two teams from the Red Cross Foundation to support them with staffing issues and overrun nurses. Our government went a step further and underspent by nearly 900 million dollars in the first half of this fiscal year. This is a systemic crisis, where Premier Doug Ford is attacking union workers' right to collective bargaining. Truth be told it doesn’t matter at all whether you agree or disagree with union rights, they are written law and they deserve the respect which comes with it. The superior court struck down the bill recently voted into action because bill 124 was found to be unconstitutional as it placed the right to collective bargaining on the chopping block. The health minister in Ontario, Sylvia Jones, denies the crumbling healthcare system in front of us. The premier says that everything they have is being thrown at the issue, all the while the Red Cross is coming in to support, which is entirely unprecedented in Ontario. Shortly after Ford’s government voted bill 123 into place which due to the housing crisis would now grant the Premier the power to sell off chunks of the greenbelt to developers, and to create a new six-lane highway. It was found that some parts of the greenbelt had already been sold to developers, some of whom were major donors to the progressive conservative party, which helped Doug Ford get into office and stay there. Even when our last provincial election saw a mere 1.9 million votes which is the worst turnout in our province’s history. Liberal MPP Dr. Adil Shamji said “September 2022 was the worst wait time records extending back as far as 2008. No matter how you look at the data whether it be month over month or year over year, healthcare performance is continuing to nosedive and is now unfortunately in freefall with no parachute of any kind. It appears that this is all by design, and Premier Ford is seemingly only concerned with getting richer, lining the pockets of the rich, all while decimating our healthcare system and using poor judgment when placing inadequate ministers in places of power that they should not have. There are no prerequisites to be a running politician in Canada besides being a citizen, and over the age of 18. You need years of education to be a doctor, or lawyer, but to hold a place of power over an entire country you don’t require any education besides completion of grade ten.

If I was in a place of power and could make changes, the first thing I would want to see is a logical priority list from the highest priority to the lowest. We need to have a priority list so that we can manage our plans of action in such a way that would actually benefit citizens. Bills such as C11, gun laws, paying millions in foreign aid, by-laws for minor offenses, development plans, etc, simply become irrelevant if we’re all sick or dead. Right now I believe our priority should be healthcare and the cost of living. With many citizens starving, working several jobs to scrape by, choosing what meds they can afford, employment crisis, and more. There is poor access to quality healthcare as our leaders continue to place useless priorities in front of actual life-altering issues.

The issue I see is that being a leader involves not just critical thinking and sound decision-making, but also leading by example and through integrity and honor. Being a politician shouldn’t be a popularity contest, it should be a position that receives the respect it deserves. The people should be right to place their trust in the hands of these leaders. When leading by example isn’t possible, leaders must be able to back their thinking with facts, and not just play a dirty self-serving game.