I’m a 32 year old, white, second generation Canadian male and I am disillusioned. Call me naive, but I was not aware that we were electing our politicians to gamble with and pawn our futures away to the highest bidders. Since I was young I had always placed my faith in them serving “we the people”, and not taking actions clearly contrary to the interests of those who elected them, and the nation itself. Yet here we are with another ominous omnibus bill that threatens everything we hold (held?) dear as Canadians: Bill C-45.
Many people seem to be under the misinformed opinion that this is solely an Aboriginal issue. That the native Canadians are upset, but their rage is theirs alone and does not affect the rest of us (the “us” that isn’t the silent majority, that is).
Those people would be wrong.
The Roman judge Lucius Cassius is attributed with the Latin term “cui bono”, which means “to whose benefit?” and suggests a hidden or ulterior motive than what is trying to be portrayed. So in the case of Bill C-45, who benefits?
Clearly it is not the Aboriginal peoples. They spearheaded the entire “Idle No More” movement in protest of their rights being infringed upon by the bill.
Is it the Canadian majority? The people who elected and put these politicians into power? As a nation that identifies itself based on its abundant forests, fresh lakes and rivers, I highly doubt that it’s “us”.
So who does that leave? Who benefits from the deregulation of our waterways? Who benefits from suddenly being able to ship our water out of Canada, and pollute our rivers and lakes with pipelines?
The answer is clear and simple: Foreign interests and corporations.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, nor am I an anarchist, yet this is the only conclusion that seems logical. If Bill C-45 were really all about finding ways to curb the black hole that is our budget, aren’t there easier targets that do not infringe upon several treaties that are already in place? Say the 30 billion we’re spending to build and maintain the 65 F-35 fighter jets we are planning on buying from the US? I guess “they” assume that as Canadians we are more interested in purchasing weapons of war than protecting our natural resources…
What scares me the most about the sweeping legislative changes that have been happening in our country lately is the lack of empathy and care any of us seem to show. Have we really become so apathetic, so used to be being bullied by our “big brother” government that we just accept everything they are doing on trust and faith alone?
Are we so satisfied in our sheltered little lives that as long as we receive the Twilight saga on Blu-Ray for Christmas that we can call ourselves content with the state of the world? Are the tiny bubbles of our lives that we fill with our doggy manicures, Honda Civics, and double-doubles enough to keep us subdued and complacent enough to not care about the bigger picture… About the futures of our country and our children that we are letting slip away?
Believe it or not, there are some things more important than Justin Beiber and the NHL Hockey strike; Important things that we are forgetting in our never-ending quest for self-satisfaction. We turn a blind eye to the things happening around us in order to immerse ourselves in the wonderful world of soap operas, Juicy Couture, and the latest “i-device”.
This must change.
Things are not still chugging along in line with the status quo, and if we do not wake up, one day we are going to look around and not recognize the Canada we once believed in. By that time, it will already be too late.
Does reading this make you angry? Does it make you say to yourself: “How dare he lump me in with all those other apathetic people out there? I DO care about these things!”
Well good. Congratulations. There is still hope, because one person at a time, we can still change the world, and our nation, for the better. We can still reverse the irreparable damage we are about to cause by standing up for ourselves and our country by saying: “Enough is enough. We have a voice, an opinion, an ideal, and we want to be heard”. That we are against putting a price, ANY price, on our natural resources and our Canadian identity. That we can stand united, whether we be Aboriginal, white, black, Muslim, Jew, or Christian. That we can tell those wolves in sheep’s clothing that we see through the little games that they are playing with our lives and demand their return.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Though the origins of that quote can be disputed, its message cannot. Unless we take action now, there will not be a later to try and fix.
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