by Harvey Oberfeld
July 1, 2024
Most Canadians love our country … but on this Canada Day, far too many feel angry, unappreciated, left out, neglected, under-served and even unsafe.
An Ipsos poll done last week shows a massive 70% of Canadians feel the country is “broken”; only 30% think it’s okay.
And as Canada Day 2024 approached, only 16% of respondents said they are “more likely to feel proud of being Canadian”, compared to how they felt five years ago while only 35% said they are “less likely to feel proud” … a figure that is up 16% compared to five years ago.
(You can read more poll details here: https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/70-percent-of-canadians-think-canada-broken-as-canadian-pride-takes-tumble#:~:text=Three%20in%20ten%20Canadians%20say,on%20behalf%20of%20Global%20News..
How sad … and concerning!
I put it to you the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of unresponsive, incompetent and excessively exploitive governments … at all levels that have listened to, catered to, pandered to and rewarded their ideological based, activist and agitating minorities … while ignoring, forgetting and just squeezing the majority for more and more money to pay the mounting bills … and waste.
Citizens are suffering …and unresponsive or incapable politicians are making it worse!
Just months ago, Vancouver City Council approved a 7.5% tax increase for 2024 … well over inflation … and that’s ON TOP OF similarly excessive cumulative tax increases in previous years: 10.7% in 2023; 6.3% in 2022; 5% in 2021; and, 7% in 2020!
This is outrageous … and the public dissatisfaction is multiplied when taxpayers see: the cost of a water treatment plant explode from the originally approved $700 million …to $3.86 Billion; a municipal Chief Administrative Officer collecting more than $700,000 in just one year; and four mayors join three staff members for a publicly-funded trip to Amsterdam on “urban drainage” (total cost still unknown.)
Municipal governments have piled on not only piled on so many increases in residential taxes (well beyond inflation) but also higher development permit and infrastructure fees, delays in applications processing/inspections that have substantially ADDED to, not reduced, the cost of housing … hurting not just home/condo buyers, but tenants (families, students, seniors) … and also raised taxes for commercial properties so high, many neighbourhood businesses have closed.
Taxpayers just don’t feel they get value for their their beyond-inflation increased taxes anymore.
Provincial governments have also let our citizens down: in BC, in addition to the serious problem of housing affordability, the people have witnessed … and far too many have personally faced depleted health care services, growing public safety concerns, ever-rising carbon taxes and Hydro fees and have had to absorb much higher daily living/grocery costs.
Surgery wait times are still so bad, more and more of those who can raise the money are leaving BC to pay for care elsewhere; entire hospital Emergency departments in some communities are closed for days at a time; ambulances can take hours to arrive; patients and their families regularly tell horror stories of being bed-ridden for days in hospital corridors and hundreds of thousands can’t find a family doctor.
Schools are so under-provided in growing communities that “temporary portables” are now permanent fixtures; universities have become so expensive, that coupled with high rents and living costs, many potential future doctors, health care aides, nurses, scientists, engineers and educators have been forced to abandon their plans to enroll.
The “Justice” system is a disgrace. Provincial Courts allow multi-recidivist thieves, robbers and even those charged with violent assault(s) to still be routinely released on bail … to steal, rob and violently attack again and again and again, while law-abiding citizens cower in their homes/apartments and feel unsafe walking in their neighbourhoods , not just after dark, but even during the day.
No wonder the largest majority aren’t happy … or proud of what they see around them!
And that’s just part of Canada’s societal decline that’s reflected in the survey.
The federal government’s and Prime Minister’s popularity continues to nose-dive as Canadians from coast to coast to coast find it hard to even find housing, feed themselves or their families, pay their bills … and feel ignored and overly financially squeezed … while the government continues to welcome/fund hundreds of thousands immigrants. refugees.
And that substantial increase in immigration, refugees has clearly frayed the social fabric of the nation, by importing hundreds of thousands of people from countries where people do not share our Canadian values/culture of inclusion, tolerance and respect for all.
Too many of those we invited here packed their “old country” hates in their luggage and, instead of adapting and fitting into Canada’s mosaic, have carried on historical ethnic disputes and campaigns, spreading hate and even violence in our country (never forget the 329 victims of the Air India bombing!), and more recently extremist groups have occupied university campuses, disguised as pro-Palestinian protestors, but never calling for a two-state solution … instead the total extermination of Israel and supporting groups Canada has officially designated “Terrorist” organizations, while also insulting, intimidating Jewish students, and spewing anti-Semitic epithets at those wearing religious garb.
Violent attacks have also increased against Asian Canadians and there have been more desecrations of Chinese community sites, as well as against Jewish schools, synagogues, businesses … but Canadians have seen little real government action to stop these hate crimes, imprison the culprits and deport any guilty miscreants found to be non-citizens.
And our university administrative “leaders” have been pathetically weak in confronting the anti-Semitic hate mongers (many of them non-students) who have taken over their campuses or purging the radical-left professors who have propagandized students with their own personal anti-Israel and anti-Semitic biases.
Put ALL these problems/issues together and you can understand why so many Canadians feel disenchanted and depressed this Canada Day.
Too many feel ALL levels of government have become blind, deaf and unresponsive to the pain/struggle so many of our citizens are now enduring … financially, socially and increasingly, even socially, ethnically.
That’s why so many Canadians can hardly wait for any upcoming elections, so they can “throw the bums out”.
And maybe feel proud again … on Canada Days to come.
Excellent article. Brilliant. includes just about everything. A must-rēad.y
Harvey, I think you’ve about nailed it. What has to be asked is how did we get here, and how do we resolve these very deep issues. Much of what you write about is exactly why right wing politicians like Trump have garnered immense power. On the immigration issue alone, we seem hogtied. We shudder when Trump says certain things but that’s because we’ve been fed wokeism for years. And then he comes along as the antidote and his promise to kick the bums out. What follows is so tiresome: the hand-wringers and faux victims are marched in front of cameras and microphones, and the circle continues. Good luck to us all.