Adam Pankratz: Has Canada been annexed by Texas, or are the Liberals playing cheap games? & More News Here

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I’ll admit to having been out of the nation for some time, however I used to be shocked upon my return to study that Canada had ceased to be a sovereign nation and was now a part of Texas.

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Our intrepid authorities was scorching on the case, although. To guarantee our liberal values weren’t trampled, the feds have been busily introducing handgun laws, relentlessly crowing about abortion rights and assuring one and all that, regardless of our annexation, we might by no means turn out to be a depressing hell gap like Texas.

Observers of the information and people with even a light sense of humour will in fact know that I’m merely joking. Canada stays a sovereign nation with our personal legal guidelines and cultural norms. What may be very a lot not a joke is the relentless enthusiasm with which Canadian politicians will exploit any tragedy or controversy in the United States for their very own political ends.

It started with the leaked draft ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court signalling that Roe v Wade was probably going to be overturned. Our prime minister, premiers and lots of different politicians rapidly rushed to guarantee Canadians that our governments would proceed to uphold reproductive rights.

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Well, good. Except nobody had prompt they not be upheld. The abortion bogeyman, which reveals up once in a while when the Conservative celebration leads in the polls or somebody foolish in America will get a maintain of a cultural megaphone, is just not on the desk right here in Canada. Anyone who doubts that may have a look at how shut former prime minister Stephen Harper obtained to banning abortion throughout his 10 years in energy (spoiler alert: not shut in any respect). We are not the United States.

Then, on May 24, 19 college students and two lecturers have been brutally murdered by an 18-year-old loser in a faculty taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas. There is not any restrict or bounds to the horror that was on show that day, the contempt and scorn the killer deserves and the sympathy the households deserve. But Canadian politicians went one step additional and used it has a possibility to freeze handgun gross sales right here in Canada.

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That could also be fascinating, however in the timing, one can’t assist however really feel that after once more we are importing international tragedy to drive a home political agenda. The actuality is that Salvador Ramos — the Uvalde assassin — would, below present Canadian weapons legal guidelines, by no means have gotten anyplace close to a gun as a result of (spoiler alert once more) we have already got very strict gun legal guidelines. We are not Texas.

One can agree or disagree that we’d like some form of abortion legislation or that gun legal guidelines should be stricter, however what shouldn’t be controversial is to say that we have to cease spending power on issues which have already been addressed and begin coping with issues that are central to the lives of on a regular basis Canadians.

We have on this nation very actual and extreme issues. Many First Nations communities are nonetheless ready for clear consuming water, our economic system is stuttering and our infrastructure is in dire want of great upgrades. Yet our governments choose to import tragedy and controversy to drive a political wedge.

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Canadians have at all times outlined ourselves by what we are not in relation to the United States, a minimum of to some extent. Nevermore was this more true than the years between 2016 and 2020. What was Canada? Not Donald Trump. Set towards the tan-orange glow emanating brightly from down south, Canada was an assurance to the world that not all of North America had misplaced it. We might all take smug satisfaction in the proven fact that we knew we weren’t that.

Eventually, nevertheless, what you are not can’t outline what you are. This is the distinct hazard of a primary minister who permits fringe identification politics into our discourse and who, in 2016, stated that, “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada.” Canadians, nevertheless, know this isn’t true. Overwhelmingly, we consider in democracy, equity, alternative, range, openness, gun management and reproductive rights. Those are mainstream Canadian beliefs and convictions.

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While our governments scratch at wounds we have now lengthy healed and wail about the ache, Canadians are falling behind. The value of dwelling in Canada is rising and Canadian salaries aren’t maintaining. Housing is getting increasingly more unaffordable. Yet these monumental issues are set to the again burner as the authorities re-litigates gun laws, abortion and different imported and manufactured issues for political achieve.

We are not Texas. We are not the United States. We are Canada. It’s time to demand higher.

National Post

Adam Pankratz is a lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. He was the Liberal candidate for Burnaby South in the 2015 federal election.