FUREY: Freedom is a growing concern for Canadians
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One of the best parts of my job as a columnist has always been the reader feedback and hearing from people of all walks of life from across the country and beyond.
Sometimes they’re writing to agree, other times to disagree. Sometimes they’re sharing a news tip or an anecdote or just relaying what’s on their mind.
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from this, it’s that you can’t underestimate anybody. Everyone has picked up at least a nugget or two of wisdom during their time on this earth that gives them the ability to navigate through the issues of the day in a way that makes sense to them.
But as a society we are losing sight of how our neighbours possess their own common sense and wisdom, even if it differs from our own. There are too many people who now act like the others around them are just inert objects waiting to be told what to do. This is a serious threat to our social cohesion.
When the ancient Greek philosophers pursued the question of “what is the good life?” they were mulling over what the best way is for a person to choose to live. They weren’t asking what is the way people must live. That’s an important distinction, but it’s increasingly lost these days. Now, too many people feel emboldened to become indignant at those who don’t live as they do.
Instead of aiming to create conditions for people to pursue their unique versions of the good life, there are growing attempts to mandate a shared objective. We’ve pivoted from enforcing minimum standards to attempting to regulate what one segment of society deems to be optimal standards for all.
This is playing out in real time in Canadian politics. Some of the issues that the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are most seized with involve backing people into a corner in the name of some high-flung subjective goal that everyone must bow before.
The government’s approach to green and climate policies works this way. They say that catastrophe will unfold in the years ahead if we don’t live a certain way. “OK, thanks for the heads up,” you say, “I’ll review the situation and make my choices accordingly.” But that is not enough for them. They’re not satisfied with a sliding scale of compliance; instead they have to implement increasingly onerous regulations that leave you little say in the matter.
Then there’s the ongoing obsession with regulating the Internet. The Trudeau government is currently waging a multi-pronged effort to make Canadians’ online conduct conform to their worldview. In addition to the contentious Bill C-11 that will give government bodies a say over content like YouTube and TikTok videos, they want to create things like a “Digital Safety Commissioner” or revise the laws to protect us from vaguely defined “online harms.”
Should you be rude and offensive to people online? Probably not. But that’s up to adults to work out for themselves. It’s not the domain of the nanny state.
Perhaps the worst recent example is the widespread vilification of that small percentage of people who chose, for whatever their reason, not to take COVID-19 vaccines. There really is nothing under the sun that sees absolutely everyone in agreement. So we shouldn’t have been surprised that around 10% of people didn’t care for the vaccine. If anything, the shocker was that the number went as high as it did. Yet we just couldn’t leave the unvaccinated alone.
What will it be next? What previously optional issue will get draped in authoritarian rhetoric? Perhaps that’s the wrong question though and instead there is cause for optimism. Maybe the question is how soon will these illiberal attitudes come crashing down?
Because Canada now appears positioned for a renewed focus on freedom. There has been a lot of ink spilled attempting to understand the dynamics that saw Pierre Poilievre win the Conservative leadership race on the first ballot with an impressive majority. I think it’s simple though: Poilievre’s key refrain on the campaign trail that he wants to give people back control over their own lives resonates with a very broad and diverse audience.
People would not have turned out for Poilievre’s rallies if he wasn’t saying something that didn’t speak to what was already floating around in the back of their minds. Freedom is a growing concern for Canadians.
As the saying goes, politics is downstream from culture. This is about us and the kind of Canada we want to live in. Let’s hope we embrace the freedom for everyone to pursue their version of the good life.
It’s been a privilege for me to write for the Sun papers the past 12 years, but all good things must come to an end. This will be my last column, as I leave to pursue other ventures. Thank you to my colleagues and thank you to all the readers.
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