He lost the election. Lost his own riding. Lost it all to a newcomer from a party with a repugnant record. Now he goes to Alberta where a proud Conservative MP offers his seat in a by-election, and wins, though with a few less percentage points than the MP. If this were a Liberal, we'd all be gagging and declaring that this is not how democracy works. “The people have spoken” and all that. But instead, “Poilievre is back!” And so are the cliches.“Getting to know the people in this region has been the privilege of my life...” “You don’t give up, so I don’t give up..”“(You’ve) also reminded me that the road to success is never a straight line.”I wish I was making this stuff up. .Back in Trudeau's “sunny days” of the 2015 election win, I groaningly listened to many of my peers prattle, “It feels like I've got my country back.” Of course, it didn't take long before I wanted to ask them if they were still enjoying the sunny days. And I'd love to one day be able to say that for myself. If there's one thing that the past four-plus years have taught us is that Canadians need to take responsibility for their country again. We have become so ignorant of our Constitutional rights that politicians feel no compulsion to publicly discuss the balancing of emergency policies with our civil rights. We have become so disengaged from the political process, so divorced from participation in our local communities and with our neighbours, that we shrug our shoulders when lockdowns or — prohibitions from hiking — come along. .EDITORIAL: When cheap money betrays Canadians, the case for fiscal discipline.We are mentally vacant bus passengers, disoriented and tired, staring out the window as the world passes by, blithely letting the driver — of whatever political persuasion — go where he wants to go. That many are leaning so heavily on Poilievre to reverse the trajectory of Trudeau's “post-national” nation, one which has left us as very low-hanging fruit for an American President, should give us serious pause. Would Poilievre fare better than Zelensky in the Oval Office? We lived through four years of political and social hell, whose ramifications will be felt for decades. Our kids were kicked out of high school sports and college programs. Our neighbours and friends lost their jobs. Struggling Canadians committed suicide, while Trudeau's own net worth increased tenfold. .I stood before riot police on the same street where I first told my wife I loved her. Our fellow Canadians were beaten down by riot police or trampled by horses, including pastors while singing Amazing Grace. It was in Ontario, under Conservative leadership, one of the tightest jurisdictions in the world under the pandemic, that police were doing spot checks asking passengers where they were from and where they were going, and even pulling over groups of cars who were seen to be traveling together. It was Ford's Chief Medical Officer and Science Table that encouraged the strangling mandates that became a part of our education system. The central government seized power on an unprecedented scale and has not relinquished it. And Trudeau has never answered for vitriol like, “For the unvaxxed [who apparently take up too much space], there will be consequences.” Canada, according to the Oxford Stringency Index, was literally one of the tightest jurisdictions in the world, up there with China and Saudi Arabia, and unlike everybody else, we literally imprisoned pastors for bucking the pandemic rules. .EDITORIAL: Canada shut out: Carney’s absence in Washington is a national humiliation.Like even the great bull Trump, Poilievre — whose predecessor vowed that the Conservatives would speak for the non-compliant — has not addressed the pandemic. If even Trump won't question his “Operation Warp Speed,” who's to say that Poilievre will have the courage to take on the system that forever altered the bounds of freedom in this country? During the dark days of the Emergencies Act, Poilievre posted a video I will never forget. He was downtown in Ottawa, walking around like a man of the people. In the first few seconds of the video, he recognizes our pain, but then, very quickly without missing a beat, he switches, “Don't worry because when I am Prime Minister ... I will...” It turned my stomach. I had known people who had lost their jobs. Had their bank accounts frozen. Had watched people tear-gassed and beaten with billy clubs. This was insensitive opportunism of the crassest kind. And don't tell me, “Oh, that's just politics.”.Would Poilievre have acted much differently than Trudeau, Ford, and Trump? He's never said. Poilievre, in that incessant Conservative striving to reel in those in the murky centre and focus-group the hell out of every potential policy point, still has not called for a national inquiry into the pandemic response, while numerous countries like Ireland, Britain, and Australia all have long ago. Some have even made apologies. We have lost our place on the world stage. Our defenses are in tatters. Our people are divided. Our identity is basically that we don't have an identity ... or that we are not American. We live in at best a performative democracy. We have been victims of the careful management of public opinion — and we know it. All for the sake of safety. Civil harmony. Sean Feucht is a recent example. The Tamara Lich sentencing. Ignore the mass graves misinformation. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and their experts and bureaucrats have told us not to go into the woods today. Bush parties? Off to the Gulag with you!.EDITORIAL: Rolling out the blood red carpet for terrorists.My own GP, who had 2300 patients under her care, has just retired. I'm 52, in a country where I've lived my whole life (seventh generation), and I have no doctor. And we're leaning on “Axe the Tax” and “Bring it Home.” No, I'm not hanging on Pierre. There is nothing in the traditional big navy suit pugilistic Conservative brand here that will make me think “I've got my country back.” When we have a Constitution that sticks, and laws that ensure that the horrible segregation and coercion can never happen again, when the bureaucracy is cut in half, when Canadians start voting in larger numbers for all levels of government, when skepticism is applied to scientific inquiry, when the bloc of the Laurentian Elites is broken, when there are no bailouts for government-friendly media giants, and when Canadians feel empowered to solve local problems with common sense ... then I might say I've got my country back.
