Randy Hillier.

In his Substack ‘No More Lockdowns Canada’, Randy wrote “What’s Going On” 25 years later. He began with “My world and Canada were shifting quickly. The values, morals and ethics …”

My letter to Randy Hillier.

Randy,

You identify in What’s Going On that “Canadian culture” is the problem with Canada today. I agree.

BUT, our government leaders have been at the wheel driving our culture increasingly towards Crony-Capitalism, Crony-Socialism and Crony-Statism.

These forms of Cronyism (modern fascism) combine as one in which more citizens self-righteously expect government officials to address every societal problem and to provide the “security” that most voters crave. We are now living in a “Care-giver Society” that caters to an ethos of “victimology” and that operates similar to the Sugar Daddy model. The Daddy bestows gifts and privileges on recipients in exchange for loyalty and services. Modern government plays the role of the benevolent Daddy who has control of the cheque book and the rules of engagement.

Historically.

The economy in Canada prior to WW1 consisted primarily of producers and consumers. Governments were tiny and played a very small role.

Over the next 110 years, governments expanded their size, cost and scope of authority until today when no producer or consumer can buy, sell or consume any product or service that has not first received a government issued “blessing”.

These approvals come in many forms including licences, regulations, permits, grants & subsidies, certificates, edicts/mandates, court rulings, passports (digital or hard copy), social insurance numbers, and more.

Every taxpayer bears the cost of creating, enforcing and complying with these “blessings”, but not all taxpayers are equal in the benefits received from them. A professor at a government university enjoys a tax-funded salary, employment benefits, pension and funding for research work while an electrician pays taxes on the same schedule as the professor without all of his or her employment perks. A government-employed office administrator enjoys most of the same benefits as the professor while a staff member employed at Best Buy, Sobeys, Canadian Tire or the local butcher shop are likely more productive in producing measurable results but not compensated as well as the “public servant”.

Politicians tout “equality for everyone”.

DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) are common rhetorical talking points for every mainstream political candidate during election campaigns, yet anyone with eyes and common sense knows that some citizens are deemed “more equal than others”.

When Canada was formed in 1867, I doubt that the founders understood ‘equality’ to mean what it does today, or even imagined the Canadian economy would become so constrained by regulatory straitjackets of today.

Randy, your efforts to affect change are admirable…

But I fear that failure is your destiny.

The “control apparatus”, to which we naively refer as the “public sector”, is in total and absolute control.

The “coup” over Canadian’s Democracy began under Trudeau Senior and was completed under Trudeau Junior.

Canadian voters are ultimately to blame.

Their greed for more “free stuff”, funded by confiscating the earnings and financial assets of their friends, neighbours and family members, has led them into the trap of making every Canadian a “tax and regulation slave.”

Tax Freedom Day reflects this reality. Most reasonably-educated, left-liberal voters will state with smug confidence that “taxes are the price we pay for a just society” because state propaganda, delivered to the masses through government institutions and subsidized media conglomerates, has worked exceedingly well.

My pessimism is well-earned.

After ten elections as a Libertarian candidate (7 provincial, 3 federal), I have accepted the inevitable.

My dream of a much smaller public sector will not be achieved in my lifetime, if ever, unless I live long enough to live through a national bankruptcy in Canada (and/or one in the USA).

Nothing less that a default on payments for this nation’s funded and non-funded liabilities will bring about a serious correction to profligate government mismanagement.

Recall New Zealand’s bankruptcy in 1985.

The NZ national debt became so great relative to the productive capacity of the economy that no investor would buy NZ bonds.

Their reality, and those of the bankruptcies of Greece and Detroit, became my understanding of how and why real change was possible.

The NZ public sector was cut by 40%.

Laws were passed to ensure balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility in all government operations.

Unions and supply management “straight jackets” were eliminated in key sectors like dairy farming which led to a recovery boom in that sector.

Yes, only a serious economic crisis will cure the “excessive government disease” that afflicts Canada.

“Responsible Governent” need not be the oxymoron it has become.

In 2019, as a PPC candidate in Maxime Bernier’s first national election with his new political party, I was sold on what has come to be known as the Four Principles for a Civil Society. They are:

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

We each come into this world possessing our person - body, mind, will and life energy. Initially, as children, we are fully dependent on others to survive and eventually thrive in a world full of risks and challenges. By adulthood, our community members expect that we be able to survive and thrive on our own while participation as a productive community member. This level of self-relance is the universal hope and expectation of every parent for their children.

INDIVUAL FREEDOM

The primary condition that must be met for a person to undertake Personal Responsibility is to possess Freedom of Informed Choice in order to make the best decisions under any circumstances. The extreme opposite of this degree of freedom is slavery, and there are many degrees of freedom that a person may encounter in life. Every individual is uniquely equipped with personal assets (strength, intelligence, creativity, etcetera) and material assets (money, property, tools, social position), etcetera. As such,

each individual’s ability and prospects for surviving and thriving will differ from other individuals. Freedom provides the social and economic environment to explore and make the best of these assets through self discovery.

RESPECT.

Some people believe that respect in the eyes of others must be earned through admirable deeds. Others assign respect based on social status relating to personal power, wealth, fame and authority.

Mutual respect between persons provides the best conditions for established a mutually rewarding relationship.

FAIRNESS.

Like respect, this value is subjected to and measured against a yardstick that is very personal and often grounded in emotions and ideological convictions. The yardstick of a socialist will differ from a capitalist. The same will apply to a poor person versus a wealthy one, or a strong person compared to a weak one.

In legislation, an idealist wants all statutes to apply equally to everyone regardless of any other considerations such as ethnicity. A lobbyist will influence custodians of the “Honey Pot” (my term for the source of all political power which contains all the money and rules that government officials manage) in order to get access to public money or legislation to favour the group that he or she represents.

The Honey Pot is full of ill-gotten gains - tax revenues, public debt, biased legislation - which fuels corruption in society.

As long as these conditions exist, fairness can never quality as a timeless, objective and universal principle.

Randy. Yours is an honourable fight.

When and if the ax drops on the Canadian economy to ignite the national dumpster fire that is needed to burn away the waste in our bloated public sector, I hope your words and actions will reverberate in the minds of citizens so that they will realize that government is the problem, not the solution.