How do you know that election season is here? When prominent politicians begin to promote policies which they formerly rejected . . . or to backpedal on policies and programs they once tried to sell. While corrupt politicians—ensconced in power and secure in their salaries, benefits and perks—sometimes manifest tone-deaf arrogance, these same people—during election season—may display a softer, more thoughtful and nuanced position in hopes of retaining their comfortable and respected role in society.

We’re in election season now in Canada, both federally and in several provinces, including my home province of British Columbia. In Ottawa, NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh, has begun to question whether the hated Carbon Tax—that has raised the price of groceries, transportation and home heating to brutal levels—is really worth defending anymore. For years, he and his NDP ideologues have hammered us with guilt manipulation about “saving the planet.” Now that more Canadians are waking up and demanding the useless Carbon Tax be dropped, suddenly Mr. Singh seems more sympathetic to the plight of middle-class families.

Even in British Columbia, where the socialist NDP under David Eby have been callous in their disregard for the opinions and the protests of BC citizens who think differently—that is, who think for themselves—the Premier has publicly wondered whether it might be time to scrap BC’s carbon tax. Of course, he hedges his bets and cautiously adds: “. . . if the Prime Minister approves . . . .” This public musing is intended to give him some credit with voters for lifting the onerous and unjustified burden of the tax on CO₂, while giving him a ready excuse for not doing so after the election . . . if the PM fails to cooperate.

Also in BC, the same smug powerbrokers (David Eby, Adrian Dix and Bonnie Henry)—who trashed BC’s healthcare system during covid, fired doctors and nurses without compensation or scientific evidence and caused emergency rooms and maternity wards in BC to be closed in a number of locations—have now offered an olive branch (pitiful and inadequate, meant only for show) to the people who were fired or driven from their careers. The Premier, his Health Minister and Public Health Officer thought they could dispel some of the anger and public disgust at their high-handed disregard for the medical professionals they dismissed by eliminating the requirement for covid vaccine compliance . . . but they couldn’t resist slipping a poison pill into the agreement. First, every rehired medical professional would be required to divulge his or her entire vaccine history (something never required before) and to accept the possibility—or the likelihood—of being displaced anytime at the whim of the Health Minister. And, of course, there’s been no mention of compensation for lost wages or other harms suffered due to the covid protocols.

The PM and his comrades-in-coercion must think BC residents are pretty stupid if they think their abuse of power and trashing of the healthcare system can be wiped away by a shallow press conference without even a hint of an apology. Also in BC, these ringleaders of the Marxist regime—under which we live today—are apparently not as confident as they once seemed about the value of their “safe injection sites” and “safer supply” of harmful, addictive and previously illegal street drugs. Because the people of BC can see the ongoing increase in addictions and opioid overdose deaths, and because other politicians are inconveniently pointing this stuff out, Eby and Co. are beginning to back away from the extremist rhetoric that they were spouting a short while ago. We appreciate the change in tone, but we warn voters not to be bought off or deceived. These are campaign antics. The same people who overspent and mistreated the people of BC have not changed. They simply want to be re-elected so they can continue pushing their agenda.

In the USA, Presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is taking this whole phenomenon of flip-flopping on issues to dizzying heights. As the failed ‘border czar’ who has overseen the inundation of America with—at modest estimates—about 11.5 million illegal border-crossers, she and President Biden (who seems to have nearly disappeared these days) have been complacent about the invasion of their country and dismissive about the societal implications in terms of housing, jobs, drugs and violent crime. Yet she now has the gall to claim that she will strengthen border security and even “build a wall”—something she and her fellow Democrats adamantly opposed when Donald Trump was President. Whether voters believe her is hard to say, especially when the mainstream media covers for her at every turn. If they do, it means that Orwell’s “memory holes” (see 1984) are becoming dangerously effective today.

We urge our readers to consider diligently, not only the words of incumbent politicians on the eve of an election but their track records. If they failed to balance the budget over the past few years, chances are they will continue to do so—if given a chance. If they’ve violated privacy rights and freedoms—of speech, conscience and mobility—guaranteed in the Charter, they’d probably do it again the next time it seemed convenient.

Integrity and honest transparency are hard to find anywhere, especially in the rarified atmosphere of political power. Nevertheless, we must continue to pursue it and to model it in our own behaviour. Only God can restore our nation, and we need to lean on Him for wisdom. He is Truth personified and He doesn’t change during the election season.