What does 2024 hold for Canadians? There is the economy. For most of us that means, "Do I have a job?" and "Does it pay enough?"There is tax. We pay a lot of it. And we wonder if our governments are wisely and fairly managing our tax dollars. And, young people at the stage of leaving home don’t imagine owning a home or having a family, as did their parent’s generation, because we have entered the new economy of 2024 and things don't seem to point that way any more.Economically, the New Year means understanding new, emerging financial trends. Since the Bank of Canada's interest rate acts like a thermostat for how hot the economy and inflation run, the current 5% central rate is going to stay around for quite a while to moderate the consequences of the government's bad spending habits. Meanwhile, average Canadians will continue to bear the cost while the government repeats the tired old political shibboleth, "We have your back."(Seriously, could they stop saying that?)Socially, our society seems to be at war with itself. It's almost a contest to denounce one another for the latest invented social misdemeanor. Everyone else must be politically correct, while those who shout the loudest and call down others have little accountability. We hear “diversity is our strength," a slippery phrase indeed, that's used to open the door of permission for every excess imaginable. The old tried and true, “unity is our strength to face adversity,” has been replaced like old unfashionable clothes, dumped in the bin.And there's modern technology. The Internet and social media have great benefits, hope and promise. We all now carry a cellphone which is our personal computer, connecting us to the world of both opportunity and degradation. But, social media has unleashed the dark side of human nature, where every sin imaginable is advertised, where conspiracies are invented each week and so-called news is distrusted and discounted as propaganda. And here's the bad news: As the Canadian culture war continues, nothing will change in 2024.Alas, humanity has been here before. We recall the “society of lies” that was the daily existence in the old Soviet Union. No one dared speak the truth for fear of social and economic consequence. We are aware of the layered social discourse within a dictatorship, where everyone lies and special information is its currency, to be traded and manipulated for one’s survival. Pravda (Truth) in the USSR was the most pervasive lying newspaper in history. But in Canada during the year to come, we will see a continuation in that downward direction, where traditional news media organizations increasingly rely on government financial largesse and become even less trusted by citizens. The cacophony of the newsy independents will mix truth with fiction and expand their private followers (subscribers) who regurgitate their narcissistic bias, excluding most non-conforming opinions. People will pay to hear what they want to hear.Canada in 2024 will also struggle with national unity. The deluge of information or social noise will cause some to withdraw and cocoon to a more comfortable social zone that seems comprehensible. It could be observed as the modern style of tribalism, where the identifiable group becomes somewhat isolated and autonomous, where outsiders have little awareness of their neighbour’s social world. Politicians will seek out every obscure group to establish an apparent special connection. There will be more 'special days,' 'commemorative weeks,' and 'theme months' proclaimed by the political class, to the degree few will pay any attention. This 'divide-then-claim' will increase in 2024.At the international level, the World Economic Forum will continue to promote “The Great Reset Agenda” where the self-righteous deride Canadian governance. Additionally, COP (Conference of the Parties) is an international political climate meeting held each year by the United Nations, designed to cajole nations to prevent supposed human-caused interference with the climate. COP29 climate talks in 2024 will be in a city where one of the world’s first oil fields developed 1,200 years ago: Baku, Azerbaijan. The focus is to eliminate fossil fuels. Protests and civil engagement will take center stage, in a nation with restrictions on free speech and Canada will have to deal with the infuriation of this spectacle. And so, 2024 will be a year of choice for Canadians. Our personal hopes as well as our national character will be challenged. “Peace, order and good government” is our national guidepost. It is our historical definition of how Canadians see ourselves, both personally and for our nation. It is the Canadian counterpart to the American “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and the French “liberty, equality, fraternity.” In 2024, we will have the opportunity to choose “good government” to replace the present dismal failure at the national level. We must learn the good governance of self, while we choose our national destiny. We must put our personal lives in order, to better face life’s adversity, as we demand order rather than hypocrisy from our leaders.Peace in 2024 may seem elusive. Some seek personal peace and satisfaction through self-indulgence or substance abuse. We also observe those who have little inner peace, are the ones who disturb the public peace. With wars and rumors of war, the world needs peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. We understand real peace is more than the absence of conflict or cultural noise. It is a presence deep within. Writing to his youthful follower Timothy nearly 2,000 years ago, the great Apostle Paul said, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)Nothing has changed in all those years, has it?
