LETTER

LETTRE

 Pierre Polievre must take the high road

 

     Mr. Polievre has won the leadership of the federal Conservative Party.  I'm not a Conservative but some of their platform could benefit Canadians. However I also see danger when he tells us he is fighting for our “freedom”.
    Statistics or “real news” tells us Canada is one of the best places to live.  Why do you think this is so?
    We have areas that need to be improved -- universal childcare / dental care -- but there is so much that we do have. Universal health care is no doubt the number one area that makes our country unique. My family and friends in the USA tell me health care is their number one concern.  Families there can pay out thousands of dollars per month for health insurance, so when looking for work or changing jobs, health care insurance is their number one priority in work contracts. I recently had surgery costing hundreds of thousands of dollars; while recuperating, I didn’t have the worry of hospital bills. I was also equipped with the necessary mobility aids, free of charge. Something we Canadians don’t think about.
     Out of work or laid off in this country, there are programs to help us financially i.e. - employment insurance or welfare. Single moms can apply to these services and stay home until the child enters school. Women have the “freedom” to terminate a pregnancy without legal consequences.
    We complain about taxes, but services cost money and a lot more money could be coming out of our pockets, because paying as a country rather than an individual costs less.   Those who choose the “freedom” of working  “under the table” -- our health care or welfare services are there for them as well. It comes down to what you consider important in your life when you look at the idea of “freedom”.  When we are young, healthy, and with a good paying job, we may not see how universal services benefit us. The day that your family needs help these services become very important.
    The icing on the cake is if you don’t like the government in power, VOTE, which I'm finding out many people don’t do. Our most important freedom is our right to vote.  This is NOT a right in every country and NOT a right of women in many countries.       When Canadian politicians claim our freedoms are being infringed upon, beware! Generations of Canadians know when these rights and privileges were being fought for and became law. My mother was a young woman when she voted in her first provincial election Instilling in her family the importance of exercising one’s right and expression of choice through voting was paramount.
    Technology plays a prominent role in our lives, and it has great benefits. During Covid Canadians struggled with confinement and isolation. The internet became even more prominent. This gave us greater exposer to a culture that does not fact-find and where there's much deliberate misinformation.
    This is not a time for politicians to divide Canadians but a time to bring us together and highlight the privileges and freedoms we have. Politicians have a due diligence to  provide Canadians with information based on facts. My hope for Mr. Polievre is that he does not fall into the trap of making the disenfranchised of our country believe that he can make them freer than they already are. That's a Trumpian attitude, taking advantage of the misinformed to get elected. He must help all Canadians by running his campaign on truth and on  understanding how our country’s “Freedoms” really work. He owes us that much!
Kathryn Dupuis
Fort-Coulone