Canada's Elephant
By Chris Nerpin
For those who prefer to listen to the article, the author has also recorded an audio version
For the last year there’s been no shortage of political scandal to talk about, and for the last four weeks there’s nothing but political scandal to talk about. We currently have a wholly dysfunctional, dead-in-the-water government. We have as many major crises as we do Provinces and Territories. Our House of Commons is prorogued. The electorate is screaming for an election, and the Prime Minister (PM) is teasing the country with a pending resignation. It’s nothing short of a three-ring circus. The current Liberal (LPC) government isn’t the first to be soiled with scandal, though recent actions may prove it to be the filthiest. There’s no government of recent history where some of its officials haven’t enriched themselves or related parties and/or fouled plays executing their duties. To my recollection, other than resigning or losing an election, no politician suffers consequences like a regular citizen would.
Canadians go to the polls saying, “elections are the choice between the devil you know and the devil you don’t”. We call voting our right, but we treat it like an irritating responsibility and we neglect it. Voter turnout in Federal elections has been less than 70% for decades. Many of the 30% or more who never vote, don’t want to choose any devil at all. For those who do vote while quipping about the devils in play, we’re setting an astonishingly low bar for politicians. We’re forgiving improprieties before they happen and admitting defeat before any politician has won or lost.
In 2015 Canadians were complaining about Stephen Harper’s Conservative (CPC) government. We were critical of everything, demanding change. Justin Trudeau swept in with a majority promising “Sunny Ways”, along with a public appetite for a change from the Harper years. Trudeau wasn’t a proven Statesman, nor did he articulate tangible plans. It was all “vision”. He won because he promised to legalize weed and lead our country growing our economy from the heart out. He won because Canadians set the bar so low a wholly unaccomplished, unqualified, inexperienced and formerly failed school teacher won the highest office in the land. All he had was the name Trudeau, good hair and the ability to say nice things we all like to hear. Canada chose the devil it didn’t know.
It hasn’t worked out so well. After nine years of Justin Trudeau as PM, Canada’s identity and future are on the line. From ill-considered mass immigration to jaw dropping deficits and debt, our country is in peril. The government’s seized and voters have no recourse. Teflon Trudeau faces no consequences, nor do any other offenders. They march on day after day. For many, we feel we are living under tyranny, not in a democracy.
There’s a reasonable argument to be made that our democracy is broken. We’ve effectively had no change in government for five years, though a majority government mandate is only four. Our last election was executed at the will of the PM because of ongoing investigations into the Winnipeg Lab scandal. That was during COVID. Under duress, we sent the same minority government back to office; the change in seats was inconsequential. Minority governments don’t have mandates, but rather the opportunity to prove a mandate. Most fail to hold government long enough to accomplish anything. We’re on track to being governed by the same minority government for six years come October 2025. That government has accomplished almost nothing good. That is not democracy in action. That’s democracy dying.
While Trudeau is responsible for his actions and how he’s damaged the country bringing us to this dark crossroads, we the voters are responsible for our actions or lack thereof when it comes to exercising our democracy. We’re lazy. We only vote and expect that to fix all our problems. When it doesn’t, we declare the politicians at fault. We wait and punish them at election by voting them out. Wash. Rinse. Vote. Repeat.
Unlike previous minority governments, this current one has seemingly escaped all accountability at every scandal. We’ve known for years, tens if not hundreds of millions of tax dollars have been misappropriated. From Green Jesus Steven Guilbault to Strong Eagle Man Randy Boissionault, others in between and the PM himself, there seems nothing but foul plays. The misrepresentation, obfuscation, denial, and blatant lying being employed by all is mind boggling. Where do they get the nerve?
They get it from us, the apathetic voters. Regardless the impact their actions have upon us, politicians only face losing elections or retirement. We pay for their mistakes and we pay for their retirements. They have the nerve, because not demanding consequences is giving permission. No threat of retribution is a powerful enticement into corruption. It could be argued it’s not wrong to do something, if it’s free from consequence. It’s an attractive opportunity for those already corrupt, looking for capital opportunities.
Many years ago, I asked a mentor who was a serving politician at the time, how to prevent becoming a corrupt politician. We were talking about how so many politicians at so many levels appear to be corrupt. He told me once someone is a player in the political arena, the opportunities for corruption start small. If you start accepting them, they’ll grow and you’ll be drawn in and captured by the corruption. It’s too late to leave then; you’ll forfeit everything. You’re bound for life. If you start turning the opportunities down at the start, they’ll stop. You’ll remain uncorrupted, but your political career will end soon after. The system will reject you. Do whatever little good you can, while you can.
I have no reason to believe this to be false. He based it on his experience. He is uncorrupted and no longer in office. His legacy is unmarred by corruption. When I take stock of the careers of “successful” politicians, the suit he described fits. It’s an awful indictment of politics. It’s easy to see, but our indifference ignores it. We accept having only devils to elect. We don’t demand restitution from or even punishment for those who abuse or neglect their responsibilities. That’s an equally if not worse indictment of us.
We haven’t arrived where we are today by accident. I’d offer it happened by design. If the system has corruption and those who can change it never do, the system is designed that way. This government did not come in and make sweeping legislative changes that has brought the country to this juncture. The rules were already in place, along with the loopholes, back-channels and bureaucratic pathways used. The incompetence of Trudeau and his government simply resulted in absurd abuses of that system and an inability to keep improprieties better contained than previous governments. Though incompetent, the current government has managed to subvert our democracy while emptying the coffers and irreversibly changing our society. That’s an appalling indictment of our system.
Canadian voters are where we were a decade ago in 2015 when we went to the polls and swapped devils. Then, we had a majority government nearing the natural end of it’s mandate. This time we have a minority government subverting democratic processes to deny us an election. The rules to hold our government to account are being used by our government to prevent us from holding it to account. Canadians have made it clear they’ve already decided they want to elect a CPC government. We’ve effectively chosen the devil we don’t know over the devil we now loathe, once again.
I’m not confident a change in government will bring a change in the way our government operates. Why would it? We aren’t demanding it. We’re just demanding a change in government. The parties that be, have already labelled the next election on our behalf. Pierre Poilievre has labelled it a “Carbon Tax Election” since the public’s appetite for an election began. The other parties holding the balance of power by a thread are preventing that election, supposedly also on our behalf.
For nearly a year, we’ve been demanding an election. Since, many other suspected improprieties have been revealed. The carbon tax is hardly still the most pressing issue or threat our country is facing. It’s no longer the primary cause of Canadian’s malcontent. The CPC winning a “carbon tax election” to “axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, stop the crime”, won’t fix a corruptible system, punish perpetrators, or stop future misconduct. Nobody is talking about that. Everybody is focused on everything that has gone wrong – complaints, rather than addressing how the hell did it get this wrong – easily exploitable processes.
Electing a different government will not fix a damn thing in the long term if nobody is talking about the elephant in the room. The elephant is our politicians, senior bureaucrats and public servants who participate in and benefit from corruption are never punished or held to account. The current government is so embroiled in corruption and filth, our entire system seized. It’s now been suspended by the government to avoid accountability. Politicians are doing nothing but throwing mud at each other, accomplishing nothing for anyone. They are all still being paid. We know many of them are objectively corrupt, but we aren’t being told who. The elephant is how easy it is to keep power and how prevalent corruption in our government is. If there are no politicians talking about that specifically, while at the same time others are playing dumb to it altogether, it’s rather evident to me, the politicians are in fact a herd of elephants.
We’re going to have an election this year and the CPC is likely going to win. Canadians are hungry for a change and ready to swap LPC for CPC once again. We decided to reject the solutions being offered by the sitting government, because it hears some of its complaints echoed by the opposing party. Poilievre hardly has to campaign to win. Barring some tremendous event, 2025 will see him become the next PM of Canada. The CPC isn’t discussing plans to fix things, or to prevent future corrupt practices. It’s offering slogans and platitudes about the same old election issues, taxes, jobs and the economy. We’re taking those and accepting them as the solutions to the country’s problems. We’re expecting a different group of politicians to simply not use the opportunities our corruptible systems offer. We’re not asking anyone to fix them, or to even put in place punishments to deter them. Wash. Rinse. Vote. Repeat.
Canada is no where near where it was a decade ago. Many argue it is in much worse shape. While some of that is not the fault of the government in power, the responsibility for it falls squarely on its shoulders. That’s what governments are elected for. To bear responsibility for a nation. If historically a nation has never held responsible any government for its failures, then whose fault is it really?
Canada needs serious legislative changes to end corruptible practices, punish offenders, mitigate risks, and deter future offenses. We also need legislation to revive our sense of nationality and pride and extinguish the harmful post-nationalism and wokeness Trudeau infected the country with. We need to take serious stock of our government institutions – Parliament, Senate, Supreme Court, Governor General – the entire electoral system and modernize it. It needs to reflect a country no longer in its youth. We need a bold leader to help Canada find its feet as an independent, mature nation, steady and confident to stand in a quickly changing and tumultuous world.
We have an opportunity to set the mandate for the next election and the next government. While Poilievre has deemed it a “carbon tax” election, this election is about much more than that. It’s about the soul of our country. Canadians need to recognize that, take responsibility for it, and give a clear message to the CPC that we want that fixed. Our democracy is broken. Poilievre has been campaigning on Canada being broken, but offering solutions only to fix things the system broke: taxes, housing, spending, crime. He’s not offering solutions or even discussing what fundamentally ails Canada – a system that’s not serving us, but rather serving those who work in the system.
I’d like to believe Poilievre has the potential to be that leader. I’d argue his twenty-years in politics gives him firsthand knowledge of where the weaknesses are. I offer too, that comes with risk. If he knows where they are, it could very well be he is looking forward to having access to them himself. Is he willing to legislate himself, his government, future governments and Canada out of this wash, rinse, vote, repeat-cycle?
The evidence before my eyes suggests he won’t volunteer. Trudeau made promises of electoral reform, but scrapped those when it was evident the status quo benefited him. He won two more elections with the system the way it is. His victories have clearly been to the detriment of the country. We acquiesced to broken promises, giving him a pass. There’s no reason Poilievre would expect to lead differently. We don’t demand it. We’re simply demanding change of the person leading, as we always do.
We continue electing the governments and the leaders we deserve. Our commitment to our democracy is weak and most revive it only at election time. Too many are not engaged in politics until becoming enraged by politicians. We have abdicated our democratic responsibilities; we’re suffering the results. The flaws in our democracy will not change simply because we replace the LPC with the CPC. It won’t change until Canadians take responsibility for the apathy that’s resulted in our ineffective and dysfunctional government. Our leaders will not volunteer to sacrifice the unpatriotic opportunities that have become the norm in government. We must demand changes are made and consequences be far worse than retirements and pensions.
The solution to our problem is admitting we’re actually the biggest part of the problem. Already, generations of future Canadians are saddled with decades of government debt they’ll pay through tax burdens. Much of that debt enriched corrupt individuals who will never face justice. Public trust in most our democratic institutions is abysmal. We let it get this way. We’re complacent. We’re happy to blame politicians, but also happy not to demand punishment of those politicians. Nobody takes responsibility. We pay the price. As it currently stands, our politicians are walking all over us and we’re polishing the boots they wear. That’s a masochistic democracy and it is not very parliamentary. If we don’t address the elephant in the room, our politicians will continue to promise lush savannahs, while delivering only desert.
Chris Nerpin is an Independent Accounting Professional working in the Nation's capital. A politics junkie, he's watched, played, and written about politics since junior high. Never a shy observer, he doesn't hesitate to call things as he sees them. You can find more of his opinions about Canadian politics and social issues on X @chrisnerpin.