This is time for action, a time for all of us to be vocal, for us to have an opinion and make it heard
Complacency is returning to the Canadian consciousness. The election is over and Canadians have made their choice for change, though not too much change. The new prime minister has chosen his cabinet. The House is sitting for the next few weeks, and Canadians are starting to forget about politics and look forward to the summer. But this is not the time to take our eyes off the ball.
There was little outrage over the ridiculous statements made by some new ministers. Steven Guilbeault, newly appointed as minister of Canadian identity and culture, falsely stated that pipelines are not being used to their full capacity, and that demand for oil will peak in a few years. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand showed tacit support for Hamas.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne declared that there would be no budget, only to be corrected by Prime Minister Mark Carney. And one of the most egregious cabinet appointments, Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, stated that house prices do not need to come down.
Evidently, the prime minister has difficulty disciplining his cabinet. Carney should have made an example of Guilbeault and fired him “pour encourager les autres.” If the prime minister absolutely wanted to keep him, he could have had Guilbeault stand beside him in front of the media to retract his statement.
But no matter. We Canadians now have the government we deserve. That’s democracy. Many of the old faces are back: those above, plus Mélanie Joly, Dominic LeBlanc, Sean Fraser and others. Time will tell if the old Liberal team will change its extremist progressive approach to virtually every issue, or if, as the saying goes, “the deception is exposed, the mask falls off and their true colours emerge.”
Canadians thought Mark Carney would be the better leader to deal with Trump, but that is yet to be evident. The Oval Office meeting between the two in front of the media can be looked at in two ways: did the prime minister stand up to the president or was he too obsequious?
Carney’s line about having consulted the “owners of Canada” was a good one, and he did remind Trump that some real estate is never for sale. At least we didn’t see the obvious disdain for the prime minister that we saw when Trump was dealing with Justin Trudeau.
Aside from dealing with Trump, all the issues that were put on the table by the Conservatives during the election still need to be dealt with. In fact, the best way to deal with the United States is to fix our own country first, in order to foster Canadian confidence and strength.
Top of mind should be the economy. When the budget is released in the fall, we’ll see what the plan is. Whatever it might be, a $60-billion deficit will not help redress our financial ailments or reduce the horrendous debt we are financing. Our productivity needs to be dealt with, and our energy and other resources need to be exploited to make Canadians richer.
Will the previous government’s obsession with climate change continue, or will there be a reasonable approach to building pipelines to get our energy to market and help other countries deal with their emissions while supporting our energy sector? The speech from the throne did not give details other than a reiteration of promises made during the campaign.
Can the new prime minister give hope to young people: hope that they will be able to one day buy a home, afford groceries and live in safe neighbourhoods? How will Carney deal with antisemitism in our country? Certainly, berating Israel and being thanked by Hamas is not the way to show moral clarity. How will he deal with the opioid crisis and the separatist resurgence?
The return of Canada as a leader in the world community will require a huge effort to rebuild the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) into an effective force. It needs to be able to defend our country with warriors: men and women willing to serve their country, in sufficient numbers, with the best equipment possible, the best training and the right priorities.
Once the requirement to defend our country is met, the CAF needs the ability to uphold our values internationally and participate in allied operations. There should be no more social experiments that take away from operational capability.
At this point, all of us should be watching our government closely. The challenges are enormous. This is not a time to return to business as usual, and this is not a time for a return to complacency.
It is time for action, a time for all of us to be vocal, for us to have an opinion and make it heard, a time to use our own leadership and our service to our country to return Canada to its rightful place in the world as a strong, confident, patriotic and united nation. Let’s see if our leaders can lead us there.
Lt.-Gen. (retd.) Michel Maisonneuve spent 45 years in service to Canada. He was honoured to command the funeral of the unknown soldier 25 years ago this week. His book, “In Defence of Canada: Reflections of a Patriot,” was published in October 2024 by Sutherland House.
