In the Victoria Times-Colonist of December 21, 2023, https://www.timescolonist.com/national-news/foreign-interference-inquiry-requests-postponement-of-first-report-to-may-8022576 Sebastian Skamski, Director of Media Relations for (the conservative party of the) House of Commons, states that an ad campaign by the fed liberals against the fed conservatives for ‘abandoning Ukraine by voting against measures to help Ukraine’ is a campaign to ‘divide and distract Canadians’. And, the liberals are desperate to ‘distract from the misery and pain’ they have ‘inflicted on Canadians for ten years’. And, the conservatives voted against a new trade legislation bill (CUFTA) with Ukraine.
CUFTA https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/ukraine/index.aspx?lang=engis a revamp bill for trade with Ukraine under its new and future realities. Fed conservatives rejected the entire package over: (both countries) ’will promote carbon pricing’, a concept they are using to distract and divide Canadians.
One must wonder how conservative thinking can be so narrow as to focus on a favourite bugbear than on the much bigger reality of what Ukraine has been facing for two years. Which should be more important for support: genocidal war or a quibble about carbon pricing? And who are they that they can judge Ukraine as well as Canada for carbon pricing? By focusing only on the quibble and voting ‘no’, the fed conservative party reveals a shameless intent, to say nothing of a myopic morality, to use whatever means possible to take down the liberals and gain power. Could they actually win the next fed election if they were less cunning and more transparent?
The second statement referred to ‘misery and pain’ all Canadians have suffered under the fed liberals. What misery? What pain? Do we live in a country whose government is at war with its own people? Do we have a medical system that is so inefficient and terrible that ‘Canadians’-there’s that all inclusive use of the word again- feel profound neglect of and fear for their health and safety? Do we live in a country where the rule of law and the separation of powers is weak or nonexistent?
The conservatives, to promote the validity of the ‘misery and pain’ comment, must tell us who and how many are in misery and pain. This statement and so many by the fed conservatives provide no nuance, details, or stats; nothing that allows critics to critique in turn the assertion. Rather than speaking accuracy to power, then, there is a different intent behind the use of contextless and therefore meaningless words. Their’s is an appeal to emotion, not facts. But then to have facts and use them takes more work than cheap shots.
Does Canada have problems? Of course! But it is as naive to think Canada has no problems as it is to say ‘Canadians’ have suffered widespread misery and pain.
Are the fed liberals guilty of ‘dividing and distracting’ Canadians through nefarious means? Do its members have time to design and implement such strategies? They are rather busy with the work of governing. The fed conservatives, on the other hand, are busy finding whatever means possible to bring down the government so they can gain power. Of course, realpolitik allows for a wide range of desire for opposition parties but at least the pretence they are a loyal opposition could be maintained, and not distract Canadians with verbal inaccuracies.
Which party is actively trying to distract and divide Canadians?