May 312018
 

Stone soup

As the last broadcast before next week’s Ontario provincial election, there is a sense of urgency in our sounding one last pre-election alarm about Ontario’s very alarming state of affairs. It is a situation not unlike that in many other jurisdictions around the globe.

What’s at stake is freedom itself, and freedom has no voice in the Ontario legislature, and a very limited voice in the current Ontario election as heard only through representatives of the Freedom Party of Ontario.

For those on the Right, Ontario’s political crisis boils down to one of IDENTITY. If ever there was a need to place ‘identity politics’ in a valid context, it is with regard to political parties. In particular, it is the failure to properly IDENTIFY Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party as being on the Left, even as the party continues to be intentionally associated with values of the ‘Right’ by both the media and many ‘conservatives’ alike.

This is significant, because individual freedom itself IS a value of the Right, but the philosophy necessary to achieve individual freedom is not being either preached or practiced by any other party besides Freedom Party.

Sundry parties like Libertarian, Green, or Trillium have also been identified on the ‘right,’ when in fact they too are not so, despite the names and label associations they might ascribe to themselves. But among the worst offenders is Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party (which also has strong political and philosophical connections to the other mentioned parties).

Whatever Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party represents, freedom and capitalism (the social and economic conditions that arise from doing what is actually Right) are not on the PC list. Like the Liberals and New Democrats, Progressive Conservatives are avid socialists who simply believe that they can make socialism more ‘efficient’. And they can and have. But It is the ‘socialism’ itself that is the cause of Ontarians’ growing discontent, not merely the politicians of all parties who implement it.

As we observed in 1983 (the year before Freedom Party was officially registered):

“Unfortunately, our political alternatives will remain in short supply as long as politicians and the public continue to share their mutual contempt toward the concepts (capitalism, free enterprise, private property) necessary to implement any real change in the direction of government. Until then, we’ll have socialism, socialism, and even more socialism.” (Autumn 1983, London MetroBulletin)

And of course, that’s exactly what has happened. No matter which of the ‘big three’ parties gets elected, Election’18 will only hasten, not slow, this sinister trend.

Always hoping that they “won’t get fooled again,” Ontarians will once again be Left with a bowl of stone soup, after having been promised a gourmet meal.

Sadly, most voters by their own admission will share a common frustration about having been reduced to voting for the ‘lesser of three evils.’ That’s because when it comes to their options at the polling booth, most continue to suffer from the very identity crisis that blinds them to the choice that would be Just Right for them.

  One Response to “558 – Ontario’s Progressive Conservative identity crisis – Who’s Right and why”

  1. Finally a leader and party that I can look up to.

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