(Jed Tallo/GazetteStaff)
Mistakes. We all make them, some small, some large, but we usually learn from our mistakes so we do not repeat them. A child does not touch the flickering candle flame twice.
In November 2024, American voters made a big mistake. It may be considered the most monumental mistake in U.S. history. They elected a dysfunctional government on a four-year path to dismantle 240 years of democratic success and plunge the United States into an economic and cultural hole it will perhaps never be able to recover from.
We in Canada are now in a national election and we can learn from the U.S. voters’ mistake by ensuring that April 28th does not become our monumental error. Who will be best able to combat the American government’s assault on our county and lead us beyond the threat into the years ahead is the question we have to answer on the 28th.
The mistake we must avoid is electing the wrong government. It appears that wrong government for the current conditions is a right wing populist Conservative one led by Pierre Poilievre, who shares a populist ideology paralleling that of Donald Trump.
There’s lots of evidence to support this view. Both Trump and Poilievre demonize the mainstream news media: Trump bans news agencies he dislikes from the White House Press Room, while Poilievre bans all news media from his campaign plane and bus.
He even plans to destroy the CBC, which has one of the best news departments in the western world.
Both leaders employ vilifying negative name calling of those who oppose them. Both repeat the lie that their respective countries are “broken.” And on it goes. In an interview on a right wing U.S. media outlet recently, Alberta’s premier Danielle Smith said: “The perspective Pierre would bring would be very much in sync with…the new direction in America.”
We learn from our mistakes. We cannot afford to ignore what we have learned. On April 28, despite party loyalties, be fully aware of where your vote is going and what that vote will mean to the country we all love.
Nigel Sivel, Picton
In our times, lies are the new truth. Truth is now a suspect.
AI, which acts human with no humanity, cobbles out word salad at best and fake news at worst.
People duped by false news spread a contagion of harm with no dent in their conscience. Gossip via social media is now de rigeur cancelling…a cancelling of life or well being for those struck by the lightning bolt of a hatred that is indiscriminate.
Large statements, writ large.
Democracy is shredding its beautiful colours in the grand overtake by authoritarians, who are wresting power via their own greed and need.
We don’t need to look far to see the erosion of democratic process. We could, but needn’t. Why? Because Canada is being undermined by rhetoric with no substance. Platitudes with no substance. Slogans with no substance.
A traitor takes down the government, then decides to run for the head office. Spreading lies about opponents creates superficial substance. Underhanded deals of selling Green Belt lands vomit the truth. Municipal movements to remove residents from the democratic process is now its legacy.
We have a party leader who wants to defund the CBC. This was the first frisson of recognizing autocracy is at work in muzzling the news here in Canada, too. The news keeps us informed and the facts need to be accurate and truthful. News is there for the people and not for the governing.
We have another party leader playing the role of Capt. Canada to win an election while education, health, and welfare have been starved for years with intent, leaving a hole of homelessness, poverty, sickness and grief.
We can choose to turn our eyes and ears away, but at great cost now.
Democracy is upheld by each of us who choose to be informed in our voting, who choose to care about where and how we live, who choose to hold the line in whatever way we serve. Flying a flag and buying Canadian unifies.
Calling out the lies and false faces that muddle the message exposes.
Caring not only about where you live but also the way we all live creates a thriving community.
PEC has the good fortune of an editor and publisher of the Gazette, Karen Valihora, who takes trouble over presenting the truth of matters, and has been targeted for doing so by officials who try to silence.
When CBC was threatened with defunding, a reporter wrote, “Why not shoot all Canadians in the foot?”
Without truth as a governance, there is no moral authority…leaving room for autocrats and authoritarians. Truth is a principle, and not simply a personal belief.
Barbara Dahlman, Prince Edward County
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