The Bitter Fruits Of Coercion Liberalism
It’s long been seen that Justin Trudeau owes his philosophy to the Oprah Winfrey School of Politics. Let’s face it, the man aims to please everyone. To wit, “Yes, you get a car. And you get a car. And you get a car”.
No, by contrast, is so arbitrary, don’t you think? Makes people mad at you. Even if it makes the trains run on time.
And so, since 2015, the prime minister has blanketed the land with Yes! No matter the group, no matter the cause, the answer is always Yes. With a hug. And it’s rights for everyone. Indigenous rights. Women’s rights. Trans rights. Immigrants rights. Animal rights. You-name-it rights.
The Entitlement Ball. Hosted by “Oprah” Trudeau. Which is all well and good. Until the entitlement groups began intersecting with each other. In which case the colliding interests began to resemble a chain crash on the 401 at rush hour.
Everyone believes they have the right of way in Trudeaupia. Everyone is the boss cow. So indigenous rights ran smack dab into feminist rights into bilingualism rights. And from this salad of rights bestowed by M. Trudeau we now have Union Station this week as the never-ending blockades of railways by very small bands of indigenous and eco warriors inconvenienced the people of the GTA.
Whom, let the record show, rescued Trudeau’s government last year in the federal election by delivering 47 of 53 GTA seats. In the hopes that he’d save them from the threat of Andrew Scheer something-something. Bet they’re happy with that deal now, huh? (The things that scare Torontonians are baffling. But then, they think Schitt’s Creek is funny so there you have it.)
M. Trudeau believes that, by giving credence to every grievance and complaint in the voter pool, he’s carrying on the legacy of his Papa Pierre, who has defined contemporary liberalism for almost 50 years. Remember, “the government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation”? Apparently his son doesn’t remember.
Witness how Justin has become tangled in the bushel of yesses he bestowed the past few elections. Interpreting liberalism for his generation, the prime minister has instead shattered what it meant to be the kind of urban liberal who formed the backbone of the Liberal Party under Trudeau the Elder and his successors John Turner, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.
Back before the sheer corruption of a bloated party submerged them in the Sponsorship Scandal of 1996—2004. And nearly ruined the party.
Liberalism, as defined in my generation, made the protection of minority groups a sacred trust. From people doing risqué things in bedrooms to women seeking a place in the workforce to new religious minorities arriving on our shores, the desire to shield them from privation, persecution and bigotry was essential to the modern Canadian tapestry. It was about— gasp— individual freedoms.
But under Trudeau the Younger we have a new interpretation of liberalism. Not only must we protect the vulnerable but now we must, as a show of good faith, actively participate in their customs and behaviours. So, employing the powers of the state, gay rights quickly morphed into gay marriage into the state insisting you make a cake for a gay wedding or marching in a Queer Parade.
It’s not enough that we now recognize the flags of many new constituencies. We must also salute those flags. Instead of live and let live, it is now a mandate to live everyone else’s reality if they are a grievance group.
The cudgel in all this is hate laws which, through the diligent work of social engineers in government and academia, coerce the population into abandoning their cultural and religious beliefs. “Nice little religion you have here, padre. Too bad if something might happen to it. Know what I mean?”
This coercion has worked perfectly so far with a generation who were never told the word “no”. Instead of saying “no” to more cookies you instead offered the child a carrot. Reframing the options to maintain self esteem and their sacred place in the universe. Everyone's a winner.
When people ask me why I have moved rightward in my politics, I remind them I am exactly where I always was on classic liberal policy. Protecting the rights of these who need protection. It is the Liberals who have taken the ride on the Trudeau Party’s Leftward Express to coercion who have changed.
And that train, like the GO train, is now stuck in the station, waiting for the tracks to clear.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher of Not The Public Broadcaster. He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also a best-selling author whose new book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports And Why The Free Market Could Save Them is now available on brucedowbigginbooks.ca.