Popular belief is that politicians don’t keep their word. And I suppose that has often been the case. Then again, sometimes the world would be better off if some politicians broke some of their promises. But that would depend on which ones they keep and which ones they break. In my opinion, they often keep the wrong ones.

Both Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau promised to balance the budget. When Mr. Harper left office, the Tories had added over $150 billion to the national debt and were still running deficits. Mr. Trudeau has outdone his predecessor by a lot. He’s doubled the federal debt in 9 years. According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, we are now paying $54 billion per year in interest on the federal debt. That’s over $1 billion per week or (gasp!), nearly $148 million per day—$147,945,205.48 to be exact. I can think of much better ways to spend taxpayer dollars.

Of course, that debt comes as a result of trying to fulfil the many other wild promises that politicians like Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Singh and other party leaders keep making, as they try to outdo one another with extravagant programs Canada simply cannot afford.

It might be implementing gender inclusivity in all Canadian programs and departments. Redoing passports, DEI favouritism in hiring, special committees to ‘study’ LGBT inclusivity, etc. Projects like this apparently reflect the core values of Mr. Trudeau and his cabinet. And they cost money.

It might be spending $1.4 million sending Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and an entourage of 632 others to a Climate Change conference in Dubai to show how the Trudeau government is keeping its promise to ‘fight climate change’. Nothing says environmental concern like chartering a couple of jets and living high on the hog with exotic airplane cuisine. “We’re doing it for the kids and to save the planet….”

As Election Day draws closer in the USA, VP candidate Kamala Harris has promised to build 3 million new homes over the next four years, if she is elected. This is one of those promises that sounds good on the campaign trail but may very well fall into the category of broken promises. How she plans to work with builders, where she thinks the money will come from, etc. are questions she’s not bothering to answer. It’s the simple answer to a complex question…but if people believe her and vote for her, she will have accomplished her objective.

In the BC provincial election playing out today, John Rustad, leader of the BC Conservatives and David Eby, leader of the NDP, are both promising huge spending on transportation improvements in the province and both are promising substantial tax cuts or rebates on housing costs. While all these are welcome discussions for beleaguered renters and taxpayers, many doubt that either party will be able to accomplish all these things without adding to the provincial debt.

Perhaps of greater concern to me are the promises politicians have made and kept in regard to abortion. Former PM, Stephen Harper, promised that under a Harper government, “no laws regulating abortion would be passed.” He kept that promise and all the loyal Conservative voters who convinced themselves that “he was just saying that to get elected,” discovered that he really meant it.

In BC, of course, the NDP is completely bought into abortion and doctor-assisted suicide. Their position has always been clear. But John Rustad, seeking to unseat the NDP, has made no promises to roll back the culture of death. In fact, he has clearly said that he “will not reopen the abortion debate.” To further show that he supports the current regime Mr. Rustad dropped pro-life candidate Damien Scrase from the ballot as his comments had provided fuel for the NDP’s disingenuous claim that the BC Cons were pushing a pro-life agenda.

For my part, as leader of the Christian Heritage Party of BC, I also made a promise if CHP-BC were given the opportunity to govern BC. I said that we would defund abortion, doctor-assisted suicide and every form of ‘gender reassignment’ surgery or procedure and that we would use that money saved to invest in actual health care. BC’s healthcare system has become severely dysfunctional since Covid protocols were implemented. Thousands of nurses were fired or forced out of the careers. Partially, as a result of this, we have seen emergency rooms and maternity rooms closed in various locations.

I made other promises that would be even easier to keep and ones that would be extremely popular with BC residents, if I were given the opportunity to implement them:

• Ending BC’s carbon tax.
• Ending BC’s so-called ‘Safe Supply’ of harmful drugs.
• Ending SOGI indoctrination in schools.
• Ending foreign purchases of homes and farmland.
• Building more spaces for long-term care, assisted living and palliative care (and we would restore the palliative care facility to the Delta Hospice Society, stolen by the NDP.
• Repealing Bill 36 and blocking government control of the medical profession and private records.

May God give us the opportunity to act on these promises for they are made in good faith and are consistent with our principles of biblical morality. Voting Day in BC is October 19. BC residents who claim to be pro-life should vote accordingly if they live in Skeena or Bulkley Valley-Stikine, the two electoral districts where CHP-BC has candidates. Voters who do not have a pro-life choice in this election should commit to either volunteering as a candidate or helping to find a good pro-life candidate for the next election. The same is true for the upcoming federal election; if you don’t have a CHP candidate in your district, contact us and help us find one. God cannot bless our land while we tolerate the shedding of innocent blood. Until Christian and other pro-life voters recognize this fact, we will continue to suffer from ‘strategic voting’ and moral compromise.

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