It’s all about choice. Some people like to tell others what to do, what to think, what to say and what not to say. For a tyrant—whether a bureaucrat, a judge or a prime minister—it’s enough to say, “because I said so”. In the new world of COVID restrictions, shuttered businesses, and social distancing, some who call the shots are seeing just how far they can push their agenda.

We’re told that we must do this and mustn’t do that, all (supposedly) for the good of society and the safety of our fellow citizens. There’s no time to examine all the theories about COVID-19 or the best way forward now . . . with the economy in tatters. In both Canada and the US, politicians are spending taxpayers’ money at an alarming rate. Inflation and tax hikes will surely follow.

The daily news briefings frequently mention research into potential therapies (for those already infected with COVID-19) and the development of vaccines to protect us from infection. Again, there are many theories espoused by qualified physicians, researchers and immunologists as to the relative benefits of vaccines, not only for COVID-19 but for a variety of diseases—measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox and the ever-morphing influenza. Every year, Canadians are urged to get the “flu shot”. Some do, some don’t. In generic terms, vaccines—some containing mercury or aluminum, some grown with aborted fetal tissue, and all of them controlled and distributed by Big Pharma—have been implicated in a variety of neurological diseases like autism. While pharmaceutical companies are often sheltered from liability, since 1988, the US Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out $4.3 billion to 5,005 claimants of vaccine damage.

There is plenty of information available on the vaccine debate, in spite of censorship and bias by both the mainstream and social media. Huge pharmaceutical ad campaigns also buy media loyalty. It is a troubling fact that Bill Gates, a globalist who has spent millions of dollars promoting vaccinations around the world, is also a person who wants to shrink the world’s population through birth control and abortion. Can we be confident that someone who says there are too many people in the world really wants to protect vulnerable populations? While his efforts to promote vaccine development for COVID-19 seem admirable, many people worry that the vaccine could come with a huge cost: our freedom! Mandatory vaccination means the loss of our freedom to choose. If Canadians accept one mandatory vaccination, there will be more. Every year, viruses mutate. Every year, new flu vaccines are produced to combat the new flu strains that have emerged. A bonanza for vaccine producers.

The emotions raised by the vaccine safety debate hinder our ability, as a society, to calmly discuss the pros and cons of vaccines. While that topic deserves a much more thorough review, this article focuses on the prospect of mandatory vaccinations. Forced injections. Compulsory compliance. The idea that a government bureaucrat may dictate to parents the kind of health care and the kind of education they must provide for their children is abhorrent. Freedom to make decisions for oneself and one’s family is essential in a free country.

How close are we to compulsory vaccinations? Very close, if we do not speak up. Already in November of 2019, long before the COVID-19 crisis, a bill was tabled in the New Brunswick Legislature calling for mandatory immunization of children. Bill 11, An Act Respecting Proof of Immunization, was tabled by Hon. Dominic Hardy; Bill 11 would make vaccinations mandatory for all New Brunswick children attending public school. All Canadians should be concerned; if forced injections become the law in New Brunswick, a federal bill is not far off. COVID-19 provides the perfect excuse.

If you’ve not been following the vaccine debate, you may think: “So what? I had a couple of needles when I was a kid.” Vaccine safety concerns are not simply a matter of for or against. There are many concerned doctors and parents who approve of some vaccines, at appropriate ages. There are, however, growing concerns about early vaccination, multiple vaccinations, combined vaccines and “adjuvants” (additives, like mercury and aluminum, that are used to improve the efficacy of a vaccine). Compared to the very few vaccines routinely administered in the 1950’s, infants and young children today receive up to 72 vaccinations in some jurisdictions, and more are being developed. Pharmaceutical companies rake in the profits, while heartbroken parents are left caring for their damaged children. Industry lawyers dismiss tales of neurological damage as anecdotal, but I know too many parents who say that their child was strong and healthy before being vaccinated. For them, it’s not an anecdote. It’s their own precious child. Weighing the risks and choosing to vaccinate is one thing; being forced by the government is quite another.

Whether or not you are concerned about vaccine safety, the ability to choose for oneself and for one’s own children is essential in a free society.

It’s time to face facts: there are people in government and in influential positions who would like to force upon you and your children their worldview and compel you to comply with their demands. Because they said so.

Mandatory vaccination is just one aspect of a government that rules by fiat; Canadians have already faced many forms of government coercion: compulsory education, defined by the state; attestations of loyalty to liberal ideals in order to qualify for Summer Jobs funding or COVID-related loans to businesses; compelled speech on college campuses; “conversion therapy bans” that restrict our ability to preach and counsel those who are asking for help with unwanted behaviour addictions.

When the citizens of a great nation lose their spine, lose their willingness (or ability) to speak out, when a government uses its power to force ordinary citizens to give up their freedoms, that nation is in great danger of moral and economic collapse.

We all need to learn more about the vaccine debate. Each person must make an informed decision about vaccination and parents must be able to decide for their children. The worst-case scenario would be for the impersonal state to force every Canadian to read the same book, to drink from the same cup, to chant the same meaningless phrases and to abandon the heritage of freedom that we all share. To resist dictatorship and unite with us for the cause of freedom, join CHP today!