for Leadership

Why don’t we expect more?

We need better political leadership in Canada. That’s the bottom line.

If nothing else, these last few years have demonstrated how important it is to have thoughtful, intelligent and principled people in charge of our country’s political and economic fortunes. Canada is a complicated place, with complicated issues and challenges, and it should be led by competent professionals, not amateurs.

Recent events have also made it clear that the same people who are elected to govern during normal times must also be ready and able to lead during times of crisis.

But sadly, what is equally clear is that our current crop of elected officials in Canada has proven to be completely unsuited to these tasks. Almost without exception, their decisions over the last few years have resulted in nothing less than an unmitigated public policy disaster. Canadians at this point would be hard-pressed to point to a single policy area that has in fact been improved by their actions.

But perhaps even more troubling is the observation that our elected officials - almost without exception - have totally failed to acknowledge the harm their policies have done, and continue to do, to our society. They seem not to even recognize what is happening to our country - to its citizens and their collective mental heath, its businesses and economy, its children and their educational and social development, and the list goes on.

These observations lead to the inescapable conclusion that for quite some time now - and particularly over the last two years, during one of the most unsettled and desperate periods in recent memory - our country has been totally bereft of competent leadership. There have admittedly been many elected and unelected officials making decisions and giving orders, but they are most certainly not leaders.

People who enact and support illegal, unconstitutional and segregationist policies are not leaders.

People who consistently blame society’s problems on one tiny segment of the population are not leaders.

People whose clear aim is to create and maintain fear and confusion among the citizenry in order to maintain the illusion of control over the current state of affairs are not leaders.

People who abdicate their responsibility to govern and instead allow a cadre of unelected public health officials to effectively rule by fiat are not leaders.

People who fixate on only one public policy issue - to the virtual exclusion of all others - and who steadfastly refuse to admit the devastating ramifications in virtually every other policy area as a result, are not leaders.

People who refuse to make policy decisions based on hard evidence and actual science, but rather base their decisions on speculation, groupthink, politics and other inappropriate considerations, are not leaders.

Such people have no business running the country. They have no business speaking for Canadians. They have no business telling us what we can and cannot do, that they somehow know better than we do how best to make our own choices and live our lives. They have no business telling us who can enter our homes and workplaces, when and under what circumstances. They have no business forcing us to divulge our personal medical information just so we can gain access to certain locations and services. They have no business forcing us to accept medical treatment just so we can keep our jobs and support our families.

Instead of being allowed to continue their catastrophic mismanagement of our country, such people should be shown the door at the earliest possible opportunity. They should never again be entrusted with the responsibility and privilege of leading Canadians. To be blunt, such an honour should be reserved for… honourable politicians.

Even though the more cynical among us will beg to differ, honourable politicians do still exist. While they may be a rare breed these days, they are easily identifiable by certain telltale characteristics. Chief among them is that an honourable politician understands that their overall goal while in office - no matter their ideology - is to leave the country or the province in better shape than when they found it, not worse.

An honourable politician understands that their duty is to do everything in their power to improve the lives of the people - of all the people, not just some key demographic or block of voters.

An honourable politician understands that their sacred obligation is to be honest with the people. To tell the truth. To admit that they may not have all the answers all the time. To admit when they make a mistake, or even a series of mistakes. To acknowledge that a policy initiative isn’t working, and to change it.

An honourable politician understands that the rule of law must be respected, and that our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not a document that can simply be ignored because it is inconvenient, no matter how easily some might accept doing so, or how urgent or dire a given situation seems to be. They understand that Canada is a nation of laws, not opinion polls or pseudo-scientific models. They understand that if the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in our Charter are to mean anything at all, they will afford us robust protection - even in these uncertain times. Especially in these uncertain times, because a right means nothing until someone tries to take it away.

These are the people we need to take charge, now more than ever, for the good of our country, our society, our economy, our constitution and our collective mental and physical well-being.

We deserve better. Our country deserves better.

The stakes really are that high.