CHP
Commentary

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures—but crises are temporary and so the solutions should also be temporary. Emergencies such as wars and pandemics are times when we must accept some new limits on our liberties, but these limits ought not last any longer than absolutely necessary!

​COVID-19 has gripped our attention like nothing else in recent years. Hockey games are cancelled, foreign flights reduced to a trickle. Children are riding their bikes or binge-watching videos instead of congregating in classrooms. Some businesses are conducting their business online or have either shut down or reduced public access. Even many churches are temporarily shuttered. Some are streaming their services instead of gathering in their sanctuaries.

As has been amply demonstrated by the extensive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers and families, Canadians need a backup plan to compensate for income interruptions due to illness or job loss. The problem with the current Canada Pension Plan (CPP) arrangement is that a large pool of funds, contributed by working Canadians and their employers, sits out of reach until retirement.

​The mistake is often made of thinking that we are the first and only generation, the holders of all worthwhile knowledge! The wisdom of previous ages is deemed inadequate for the challenges of today. Yet, if we look to political advice given in the 16th century by political strategist Niccolò Machiavelli, we see that political chicaneries have long been practiced by the ruling class…in the past and still today.

In the US, one candidate for the Democratic nomination for President, Bernie Sanders, has put the word “socialism” on everybody’s lips. His talk of free post-secondary education, cancellation of existing college debt, universal healthcare and higher minimum wages has struck a nerve with many young people who have never lived in a socialist utopia like Venezuela, Cuba or the Peoples’ Republic of China. Of course, he calls his version “democratic socialism” but the results are always the same.

​What does it take to separate the social conservatives from the faux (fake) conservatives? Who is on which side in the Conservative leadership race? MP Cathay Wagantall is bravely putting out a test for all Conservatives, one that will hopefully get Canadians talking about the abortion free-for-all that is happening in Canada today.

​A couple of months ago, people discussing China were focused on her rise as the world’s burgeoning super-power. Over a relatively short period of time, she has grown to be the world’s largest exporter of goods and the 2nd-largest importer. She was known to be building (and presumably still is building) a world-class navy; she was busy creating islands in the South China Sea for new ports for her ships and staging-grounds from which she could project strength and defend her possessions.

​After dallying around Africa and Europe for a week while Canada’s railroads were being shut down by an assortment of political activists across the country and pipeline protestors in northern BC, Prime Minister Trudeau finally headed home, saying he wanted a “quick and peaceful” solution to the impasse.

​Do you remember the crazy world of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”? I read the book as a child and remember Alice always feeling out of her element because everything was backwards. I can’t help but wonder if Canada today is “Wonderland”. I seem to be constantly feeling out of touch with Canada’s reality.

​Along the ridge of the Rocky Mountains, in both Canada and the USA, there is an invisible dividing line that separates the waters that run out into the Pacific Ocean from those that flow into either the Atlantic or the Arctic Oceans. It’s called the Great Divide. Two raindrops—depending on which side of the Divide they fall—can begin their journeys only a few feet apart and end up separated by thousands of miles.

​You need to get a government licence for many things in Canada; so far, publishing your thoughts is not one of them. But warning shots have been fired…

​Myths can be defined as “widely-held beliefs or suppositions that are not factually true”. What people believe–whether true or not–guides their thinking and contributes to their unique understanding of the world. A person’s world view generally affects the choices he or she makes: whether to marry, what to read, what activities on which to spend time, how to spend one’s money and how to vote.