Who is to Blame?

Why, Justin Trudeau of course.  At least according to a lot of commentators.  Everyone knows that he is responsible for all of the ills that are besetting the good people of Canada.  Health care – that’s his fault. Inflation – him again. Recession – if it comes, it will his fault, but he will get none of the credit if it does not. The housing crisis – why isn’t he out building houses with his own hands?  The sad state of the armed forces – oh, definitely his again.  The war in Ukraine – probably. Climate change – again guilty.  There is certainly nothing wrong in the world that is not his fault.  The poor man must carry so much blame it’s a wonder he can even stand up.

“It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.”

  - Malcolm Forbes

 However, we really should look at these things a bit more closely to see where the blame really resides.

Health care – this, as we are reminded every day, is a provincial responsibility.  If the provinces really want (not necessary need) more money, they are perfectly able to increase their taxes or find other ways to increase health budgets.  Their demands for more federal money which goes into their general revenue with no strings attached are wrong headed.  As a taxpayer to both the federal and provincial coffers, I think that we definitely need some form of accountability for the money that I send.  As it stands, there is no way for us to know how and how much our money is being devoted to health despite what is in provincial budgets. What is urgently needed in every province and territory is a complete overhaul of their health care systems.  Mr. Trudeau is not responsible for this.

Inflation and recession – Inflation and the possibility of a recession have a lot of people worried.  Mortgage rates have skyrocketed to about 7% (note, I bought three houses between 1978 and 1984, all for military moves.  The lowest interest rate I paid was 10.5%. In 1980 mortgage rates rose to about 19%).  Food prices are going up, etc., etc. But this is not just a Canadian problem, it is happening in all countries.  Canada did not start this issue, in fact no country can really say it is solely at fault.  The disruption and extra costs associated with the pandemic laid the groundwork and we are now seeing the fallout.  If Joe Biden with the largest economy in the world could not stop this issue, how do you expect Justin Trudeau to do it?

Housing – Housing is usually considered a municipal issue, although provinces are becoming more involved, often to the detriment of municipal governments, as we have seen in Ontario recently where the provincial minister rewrote the official plan for one large city (Hamilton).  The federal government has provided money for housing under a rapid housing initiative.  A story in the CBC online news today told of a 22-unit small unit development in Winnipeg the construction of which was funded by the federal program. The federal government is not in the business of writing city official plans, approving zoning changes, authorizing building permits nor any other aspect of building homes, and this is the way it should be.

The armed forces – sorry folks but the group that is most at fault for the state of our armed forces is the taxpayers.  If you took a toll of 1000 – 2000 Canadians (the usual sample size by polling organizations), you would be hard pressed to find very many people who would put funding of the armed forces any where in the top 10 or even 20 on their priority list.  Because the truth is that most people don’t want to spend the money for such a thing.  To increase the budget for the armed forces would mean either cutting other programs or increasing taxes.  As I’ve said in a previous blog, we don’t pay enough taxes to even support the programs we already have, never mind an increase in the defence budget that is no where near the top of Canadians’ priority list.

And no, he nor his government is responsible for the war in Ukraine or climate change.  As for the climate change portfolio, I would say that this government is doing all it can to deal with it in the face of the constant denial and protests from the main opposition parties and conservative provincial governments (Alberta – are you listening?).

Remember: Politics is the art of the possible.

“Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.”

  - A. H. Weiler

 

New Year Thoughts

 

Internet

2022 saw what appeared to be a never-ending drama over the Rogers – Shaw merger or take-over depending on your point of view.  And that again brought up the whole issue of internet and particularly cell phone service prices.  Everybody seems to feel that such fees are much too high.  Here again we fall into the trap of comparison with the US and European countries.  The two things that minimize the cost of these services is small area and/or large customer base.  Canada is burdened with neither of these features.  Canada is a large country, significantly larger than any European country and larger that that the US.  And it also does not have a large customer base.  In fact, Canada is probably the least densely populated of any country in the world (with the possible exception of Antarctica and Greenland although I don’t know what their service rates are).  And yet it still takes the same per area infrastructure density to cover our country. In other words, cell phone towers still have to be the same distance apart (about 400 metres for 5G) as in any other setting, there are just fewer customers per tower.  Of course, internet and cell phone rates are going to be higher in Canada.

Convoy 2.0

I see that organizers are having problems in forming Convoy 2.0, another attempt to change government policy for more “freedom”, whatever that is.  One “leader” says he no longer plans on making that effort while others insist it is going to happen with Winnipeg (what did they do to deserve this?) and Ottawa now on the agenda.    Maybe one of their problems is that they are trying to over-organize such an event.  Last year’s event was formed more or less spontaneously based on social media posts.  In my opinion, some of the people who were active in the original convoy should, if found guilty, be sentenced to spend a year in some other countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, or Egypt to see what real “freedom” is all about.

Trump Legal Issues

Donald Trump (Oh, him again) has declared his candidacy for President of the US – quite early as it turns out.  There is some idea that he has done this to avoid facing his mounting legal problems.  This may well be some of his thinking.  This is based on a rule that presidential candidates cannot be charged or indicted for crimes they may be facing.  But this rule, and its potential use by Trump, seems to create possible problems if it is taken to extremes during this period of unofficial candidates.  If you, as an ordinary citizen, had recently committed a crime this rule would suggest that to put off any judicial action all you would have to do is invoke this convention and declare yourself as a candidate for president.  Can you imagine hundreds if not thousands of people trying this approach.  I would suggest that this convention should only be used if and when the person, like Trump, has been selected as the presidential candidate after party preliminary elections followed by confirmation at a party presidential convention.  By that logic, Mr. Trump would still be liable for charges and indictment until at least the summer of 2024.

Guns

In the US, 2022 has been a good year – for mass shootings. There have been far too many, almost one a day.  They have been directed at a number of targets, Afro-Americans (Buffalo, NY), children (Uvalde, Texas), LGBTQ (Florida and Colorado) and just about anyone else that a shooter can think of.  In all cases, gun advocates such as the NRA have said that this shows that more people should be armed, preferably with concealed weapons, to “protect” against these supposed mentally ill shooters.  And yet two truths stand out this year, as it has in years past.  First, in no case has the perpetrator been stopped by a bystander with a gun.  Secondly, if all of these mass shooters are, in fact, mentally ill, why have any of them who survived and were brought to court, not been found not guilty by reason of insanity? And yet, the American public are led to believe that the answers to gun violence are more guns and mental health checks on gun buyers.  Makes you wonder, doesn’t it.

It will be interesting to see how many of these issues are still with us at the end of 2023 (2023! Can you believe it?).