‘Slip , Sliding Away’—Canada’s Democracy .

I woke up thinking of Paul Simon’ s lyrics. 

One posted meaning is : what can happen if one does not live deliberately.

How interesting!!

Canada is slip, sliding away —-anti freedom progressives and even some alleged freedom fighters are aiding and abetting this tragic effort. 

I saw its beginnings ( at least in my experience ) during my time as a Minister in The Government of Newfoundland in the 1970’s. As a Minister of Housing I experienced the hard hand of the Federal Government when it began discriminating among Provinces as it related to Federal Housing dollars to the Provinces.   I saw it when  the Federal Government attempted to deny Newfoundland its share of revenue and say over the then developing offshore resources .  Western Canada experienced it through the attempted National Energy Program.

It was most prominently on display during the early 1980’s when the Federal  Government tried to patriate and introduce a Charter of Rights and Freedoms—UNILATERALLY!

The dominate narrative tries to hide the fact that this unilateral federal move was rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada in September 1981 . Even lawyers and judges fail to reference it in talking about the development of our Charter. 

Simultaneously , the bureaucracies of the Federal Government and the Provinces grew exponentially. Power began shifting from the Parliaments to the Executive —-and to the bureaucracy and government agencies. The judiciary became more activist and boldly asserted responsibility that it did not possess under the Constitution. Witness the decisions relating to the pandemic , and my own personal ( with other Canadians a part of it) legal challenge, still under appeal—a so called ‘expedited process.’ Six million Canadians discriminated from travel in their own country  in violation of their Charter rights. 

And we all let it happen !!!

Coupled with these developments was the concept that deficit financing was necessary , a new tool that was crucial in modern growing economies .  Deficits and debt became popular! And even to the point where the very meaning of a deficit was elastic—current account borrowing versus capital account borrowing. What a trick that has become with Journalist and Economists all over the country buying the deception. 

To put it crudely, many were bought off ! 

This is most blatantly evident in the over $40 billion health transfers annually going from the Federal Government to the Provinces, distorting the constitutional framework of health care being exclusively provincial under the Constitution. Education soon followed and then social services. 

The federal state became less and less and the Federal Government became more a NATIONAL Government. The Provinces lost . The power to the centre , especially Ontario and Quebec , that is Upper Canada and Lower Canada in history , were still in control.

Donald Savoie, governance scholar at the University of Moncton , in a landmark book in 2019 highlighted Canada’s weakening democratic position titled ‘Democracy in Canada, The Disintegration of Our Institutions.’ It was inevitable says Savoie given Canada’s founding without a better structural balance——no elected upper house , for example, representing the Provinces  like in the US. And the fact that the country has been incapable of wise constitutional  change  —witness my earlier reference to Pierre Trudeau unilateralism in 1981. 

That has now seeped into the Judiciary ! And the Provinces. !

Then the fake Pandemic hit!!!!

And all that history came tumbling down on the individual. 

It was and is all about the group, propaganda, group psychosis, The celebrity and graphic revolution as American Historian Daniel Boorstin called it when in it was in its infancy in the late 20th century. 

The American  Bill Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are under attack as the classic liberal tradition and the enlightenment go up in smoke .

The international co-operation coming  out of World War Two gets re-engineered to mean the erosion of the nation state , the diminution of individual rights and the rise of super international unelected agencies to dictate public policy around the globe.  This rejection of what it means to be human and organize is dangerously close to being an accepted plan by the government and their technocrats , high finance institutions, the new high tech billionaire class, big media and the flawed academic establishment. 

In Canada, the three vital parts of our democracy: parliament, the executive , and the judiciary have seen the most important part being weakened , with the executive and judiciary in ascendent power . The Federal Agencies dominate and the  Privy Council Office and the Prime Minister’s and Pemiers’ Offices are in control . 

Democracy hijacked!

Ironic indeed that Transparency International has just highlighted Canada as having the worst corruption increases ( index decline) of any country in the last five years. Its decline similar to Venezuela. 

Imagine no Government in Canada would endorse a National Independent citizens led Inquiry to examine the constitutional and scientific validity of their pandemic actions. I had asked them in writing. Lives were lost, people permanently injured, jobs destroyed, untold psychological damage Individually and collectively ensued. 

No accountability and transparency.   

Then , such an Inquiry gets established outside of Government ,  with such a stated goal , but quickly deteriorated into the violation of the reason for its existence , its independence , and a blatant conflict of interest ensued , with personal agendas superseding the public good ; a non governmental approach turns into one in which one of the directors of the non-governmental non profit corporation agrees to be paid simultaneously to lead a parallel non independent , Provincial Government Inquiry.  The very elites the Inquiry was to avoid. !

So it seems all of society has been infected by this group dogma, this insidious approach to Governance, the control by the elites to the detriment of the citizen, the taxpayer and elected institutions. 

Part of a summary of Don Savoie’s book reads :

‘As a result, the scope and size of government and Canadian federalism have taken on new forms largely outside the Constitution. Parliament and now even Cabinet have been pushed aside so that policy makers can design and manage the modern state. This also accounts for the average citizen’s belief that national institutions cater to economic elites, to these institutions’ own members, and to interest groups at citizens’ own expense.’ 

‘Slip, sliding away————

Hon . A. Brian Peckford