Election Questions from Moose FM / Country 90.5 FM
Local media organizations still care about fair elections in Ontario. Not the CBC or any of the Big Media corporate organizations.
As the Libertarian candidate for the riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, I received this request by email recently.
“We will be asking all of the candidates the same questions to garner news stories, both on-air and online, in the lead-up to the election on June 2nd. Here are the questions/topics:”
Question 1. With high gas prices and with affordable housing and the cost of rent being issues as well - how will your party lead the economic recovery process in Haliburton - Kawartha Lakes - Brock? How can your party help constituents afford everyday items and housing? What relief is in store for low and middle-income workers if your party wins the election?
Libertarians believe that the root cause of most of the financial challenges facing our citizens can be traced to too much government. Less Government is the only common sense way to improve affordability for our residents.
Fact: The average Canadian pays ~53% of annual income to governments at every level and this has risen from 38% since 1961. Excessive taxation is the most obvious culprit but only part of the story. The unnecessary burden of excessive regulations imposed upon and layered on top of our citizens’ responsibilities, their jobs and our businesses add enormously to the cost of everything due to state-mandated compliance-related expenditures.
Libertarians advocate for Less Government in order to unshackle the creativity, ingenuity, entrepreneurship, skills, knowledge and efforts of our citizens. Our goal is to release the innate potential, productivity and prosperity of each citizen which, in turn, will reduce the costs of living from that unshackling. This can be accomplished by paring back the number of laws and regulations that unnecessarily restrict our freedoms as laid out constitutionally in our Charter of Rights.
Freedom of Choice is our Party’s theme for good reason. Our economy works best when our citizens exchange and cooperate with each other voluntarily. Governments, on the other hand, hold a monopoly on force, hence the word ‘enforcement’ that describes the work of most of their employees. There is nothing voluntary in their enforcement of far too many unfair and biased laws and regulations.
Question 2. Reports say the province's hospitals have been dealing with staffing issues and a constant overflow of patients. As our riding, hospitals, and long-term care homes continue to deal with pandemic-related pressures, what can we look forward to seeing in terms of relief to the health care system if you're elected?
The Ontario Libertarians Party believes that competition in healthcare and long term care is the best way to address the reported issues. Our Non-Government Options model will facilitate that completion. It will enable non-government service providers to complete and co-exist with government service providers in a vibrant market of consumer choices.
For this to succeed as envisioned, every citizen must be free to choose to opt out of government services and thereby be exempt from paying taxes to fund the government service providers. In so choosing, they can save those taxes to pay directly for their choice of non-government services. Over time, more citizens with move away from government services. Their after-tax disposable incomes will rise. The number and range of non-government services will grow in direct proportion to the voluntary spending choices of our citizens.
Economics teaches that minimally-regulated markets encourage productive and innovative competition which keeps all market participants focused on best meeting the needs of customers in a timely, convenient and cost-effective manner. Every shopper knows this from experience. A healthy dose of competition in health and long term care is just the remedy we need to bring out the best possible range of choice for everyone.
Libertarians believe that Freedom of Choice must be restored to each citizen where it belongs. For too long, past voters have eliminated their choices and put their trust in the hands of politicians and government central planners who have never met them to understand their unique circumstances and challenges. Let’s empower every citizen to re-embrace their sense of Personal Responsibility and Individual Freedom.
Question 3. According to social services and municipal agencies, homelessness, opioids, mental health and addictions have all been intertwined into a major issue affecting communities and constituents right across the riding. What is your party's plan, including concrete actions, to deal with this complex issue?
It’s telling that these agencies have admitted their failures in dealing with these issues after the many decades that they have held responsibility to address them. As Albert Einstein said: “The definition of insanity is do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different outcome.”
It’s time to pivot, to depend less on government services and to establish non-government options at the community level where personal connections between family, friends, neighbours and coworkers exist.
Let’s learn from history. As governments have grown over the decades, community spirit and interpersonal cooperation has withered because too many voters have come to believe the statement: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” and that this help is “free”.
Politicians from the Liberal, NDP, Green and (less frequently) Conservative parties have continually sought to divide us into ‘tribal’ groups of “special interests”. Their “divide and conquer” strategy has worked at the polls. Their political rhetoric is designed to exploit us for political gains
by making election promises to bribe for votes from the most politically-powerful of those tribal groups - promises that almost never with up to their billing.
The Libertarian approach: Reduce the size, scope of authority & responsibility, and cost of their bloated bureaucracies so that we can restore to our communities the elements of mutual respect and voluntary cooperation. In the past, these were amongst the most-cherished aspects of Canadian civil society. Sadly, today’s culture of tribal animosity has been stoked constantly by many media, political and institutional actors. The word ‘civil’ is rarely used today to describe modern life today. Pity.
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