When I was a boy, I heard a dissertation from one of my teachers about Russian socialism and the trials that their people had to endure under a totalitarian regime. She told us that in Russia mothers were not allowed to stay home and look after their children but rather they had to go out and work for the state. The children were put into government run day care centers or schools where they were indoctrinated to accept and embrace the principles of Communist socialism and to regard loyalty to the ‘State’ as being above loyalty to their parents or to any religion. The country was run by the leader of the Communist Party who controlled all of the country’s money and therefore controlled the lives of the people. The leader of the party was in effect a dictator with absolute power and everyone under him merely carried out his orders. The obedience of the people was ensured by the employment of armed soldiers and police. In return for working for the ‘State’ citizens would have all of their needs looked after, housing, food, clothing, medical care and education, etc. Atheistic Secularism was the official religion of Russia. Other religions were suppressed and while they couldn’t prevent people from believing in God, those who professed their faith openly or otherwise opposed the government’s wishes were punished through discriminatory government policies and practices or they might just disappear. In small town Nova Scotia in the 1950’s all of my friend’s mothers were home looking after them. For my friends and me this story was horrifying.
In later years I learned that when the communists took over Russia among the first laws that they enacted was to legalize abortion and to allow for no-fault divorce. It seemed that strong families were deemed as a threat to their sustaining absolute power.
In our high school, students were encouraged to continue their education and establish a career. I remember however, that there was a particular emphasises in this program aimed at the girls. They were counselled not to consider marriage and family until they were in the position of having an independent income. In a few years’ time, there was a definite influx of women in the workforce. I noticed that when couples got married they would both want to continue in their own careers and would often put off having children because that would interrupt career advancement. The two incomes greatly enhanced their standard of living.
Over the years, successive political parties in Canada got elected to govern with promises of welfare, guaranteed minimum income, employment insurance, maternity/paternity leave benefits, subsidized day care and free medical care. It struck me that these were the same things that the Communist dictators provided to their citizens and was funded in part by forcing women to work for the ‘State’. Of course all of these things cost money and to pay for them Canadian governments had to steadily raise taxes. Forty years ago two income families had a higher standard of living. However, today when our taxes are among the highest in the world, most families can’t survive on one person’s income. A woman couldn’t afford to stay home to care for children even if she wanted to. If one was to calculate the money the family pays for income taxes, excise taxes and HST you might come to the realization that the woman is being forced to work for the ‘State’.
There is a saying that, ‘money is power’ and if a government acquires control of a too significant portion of our money, then they will begin exercise control over major aspects of our lives. Under the political ‘Party System’ in Canada the leader of the party that wins the election becomes the Prime Minister. As leader of the Party he or she controls the candidate selection process and can furthermore dismiss them from party membership even as MPs. If as Prime Minister he forms a majority government he would then have almost totalitarian power in running the country.
In recent time there have been a number of decisions and statements by political leaders, nationally and provincially, that demonstrate a contempt for those Canadians who value moral beliefs based on religion or conscience. Premier Notley of Alberta complained that the curriculum of the Catholic School Boards was unacceptable. Quebec and Ontario have mandated school curriculums which diametrically oppose the moral teachings of religious groups. On the national level Prime Minister Trudeau has demonstrated a totalitarian attitude that is unprecedented in our history. After prohibiting any pro-life person from running as a candidate for the Liberal Party, the new Prime Minister has exercised his absolute authority to drive a pro-abortion, anti-religion, forget your conscience, agenda.
In March of 2017 he unilaterally announced 650 million dollars commitment of tax payers’ money to promote sexual/reproductive rights (abortion) in poor countries and pledged 81 million dollars to the UN Population Control Fund who pay for abortions in poor countries. He then threatened to withhold health funding to PEI if they didn’t arrange to provide abortions and to New Brunswick if they didn’t improve access for abortions.
In June the Liberals shut down democratic debate in order to drive through a bill to legalize assisted suicide/euthanasia which prohibits any type of objection based on conscience rights. In August he interfered in Ireland’s abortion debate. In November he attempted to remove from the Criminal Code the only provision protecting freedom of worship. He then appointed Sheilah Martin to the Supreme Court, who was the first judge to approve assisted suicide in Canada.
In December, Trudeau advised that anyone applying for Canada Summer Job Program grants must sign an attestation confirming support for abortion. In defending his decision, Prime Minister Trudeau spoke at McMaster University on January 10th, saying, “This (abortion) is a really important right that we have established and there are organizations out there that couch themselves as freedom of speech, freedom of conscience… Of course you’re more than allowed to have whatever beliefs you like, but when those beliefs lead to actions determined to restrict a woman’s right to control her own bodies, that’s where I, and I think we, draw the line as a country.” Of course, there is no dictator who is going to tolerate opposition based on such foreign democratic principles as ‘freedom of speech” and “freedom of conscience”. Trudeau wants to defend his obsession for killing hundreds of thousands of unborn children, both at home and abroad, by insisting that he is standing up for women’s rights. However, in a recent study by Population Research Institute, they found that nearly three-quarters (73.8%) of women with a history of abortion admitted that they experienced forms of pressure to terminate their pregnancies. More than half of the women reported that the perceived pressure was great enough to significantly influence their decision to abort. Nearly 30% of survey respondents admitted that they were afraid that they would lose their partner if they failed to terminate their pregnancy. The president of PRI, Steven Mosher, says of the survey statistics “They suggest that a substantial number of women in America today who supposedly ‘choose’ abortion are actually being pressured into it by their husbands, boyfriends, or family members.” This would suggest that Trudeau is not helping women but rather facilitating the people who want to pressure women to have abortions. At least 30% of these people are the fathers of the unborn children.
The latest exposure of Trudeau’s attitude of having personal absolute power is his refusal to consider the petition of 87 Canadian religious leaders to end his discrimination. He arrogantly dismissed the controversy as a mere “kerfuffle”. When we consider the number of partisan issues faced by Canadians, we should have a genuine fear of a Prime Minister who has such contempt for democracy and the actual ‘individual rights and freedoms’ of citizens.
Interestingly, Justin Trudeau identifies himself as a Catholic who is adamantly pro-abortion. In an article in the Ottawa Sun, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast contradicted his position saying, “You’re confused if you think that you can be pro-abortion and Catholic…It’s ‘logically impossible’ for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to consider himself Catholic and pro-abortion.”
There is no legal right to abortion under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but that doesn’t stop Mr. Trudeau from making the declaration by his own decree. While he generously allows Canadians to believe whatever they want, if they interfere with his beliefs then there are going to be consequences. People of conscience in Canada have been put on notice that if they defy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau they will be considered second class citizen who can be discriminated against and punished at his pleasure.
I believe there is good reason to question Mr. Trudeau’s psychological fitness to govern a democratic country.