Politicians caught travelling abroad despite pandemic

This is a tree-and-forest story. Many are outraged that politicians travel out of Canada when they and their compatriots have urged Canadians to avoid unnecessary travel and travel outside Canada.

Charges of deception, elitism, hypocrisy, and stupidity are valid. That is the trees. The much darker forest is the notion that our politicians must follow the dictates of the party leader in every situation. There can be no expression of a contrary opinion or deviation from the script laid out by the party and its leader.

Is that what we want? Is the Member of Parliament (or legislature) duty-bound to adhere to his party’s policies without considering the needs, desires, and wants of the people who elected him?

Requiring elected representatives to follow policies created by unelected party officials, their paid pollsters, PR people and strategists undermines democracy and rule of the people by the people.

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” - H.L. Mencken

The stolen goods are political promises that governments make to elicit votes but are funded through taxation, borrowing or both. Politicians running for office work from a luxury car showroom even if they know we can only afford a used compact model.

Once elected, they order luxury models and send us the bill. For the next four years, that is their only contact with us – tax bills for luxuries we don’t have to enjoy. It does not matter which party wins; the winner will rule rather than represent. We must end the charade. Elected people who have not represented us must not be re-elected.

Political parties agreed that they would shut down parliament for five weeks from March 15, 2020. Parliament reconvened with about 50 members to pass various bills on March 24, April 11, and May 1.

On May 26, the Liberals, NDP and Greens won a vote 28–23 to suspend regular sittings of parliament until September 21, effectively giving the Liberal minority control over governance during twin health and economic crises without opposition voices for the next 118 days.

Liberal backbenchers and opposition members abandoned us during the most critical time Canada has faced in generations. No one stood up to represent the people of Canada. The government plan for business and service closures devastated our economy and adversely affected millions of Canadians. We have lurched from crisis to crisis within a disaster.

On the wall of my den is an old Viking proverb: A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
That covers the government approach to coronavirus containment. The closures and isolation failed, so they intensify the regulations, impose fines, and blame us for the failures of their policies.

The ultimate insult was them breaking the rules they wrote for us and they must be sacked. They have earned our contempt, which we can express in future elections.