Right in the centre - The power of words and actions

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Published on Friday, November 15, 2019

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

Iwon’t even get into the whole Don Cherry controversy because, try as I might, I couldn’t find the whole tape. I do know that media outlets did edit his words from part of his rant in such a way to make it sound worse than it was. That is just plain wrong and is dishonest reporting. I would like to find the whole speech and then maybe I could comment.

In contrast, some people have questioned why our prime minister can wear “blackface” and not be condemned. Well, actually, he was condemned for it, but that theatrical misstep is small compared to his many other blunders. Buying the Trans Mountain pipeline and then stalling it is much worse. Cancelling other pipelines is bad too. Bad for Alberta and Saskatchewan and bad for all of Canada. How Trudeau, the younger, can face Canadians and not feel ashamed for what he has done to the economy is mystifying. If anything, he should be doing everything he can to promote Alberta and Saskatchewan, so they can keep sending money to his beloved Quebec. Believe it or not, Quebec will suck $13 billion out BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland this year. It is an imbalance that must be addressed.

I say Trudeau, the younger, as it was Justin’s father, Pierre, who trampled Alberta in the 1970s. Now his son is doing likewise. For people too young to remember the 1970s disaster, check it out online or in the history books. Look up National Energy Policy.

There is more to the Pierre Trudeau story. It is said to be documented by CBC archive film footage that Pierre, in his youth, appeared to be a bit of a fan of the Nazis. CBC footage aside, the late Archie Doan, of Riding Mountain, told me and a group of people one night at the Chicken Corral Restaurant in Neepawa that he was on a troop train at Montreal during WWII. Doan said, “We couldn’t pull out of the station because of a student protest. One of the protesters running around there was wearing a jacket with a swastika on the back. His name was Pierre Elliot Trudeau.”

Now, we may assume that young Pierre got past his youthful enthusiasm for the Nazi Party, but he didn’t lose his enthusiasm for politics.

In the 1960s, Trudeau and two friends met with a fourth man, Rene Levesque, to decide how to re-shape both Quebec and Canada. Levesque disagreed with their vision for Canada and decided to go it alone and formed the Parti Quebecois, with the intent of taking his province out of confederation. The other three, Jean Marchand, Gérard Pelletier and Pierre Trudeau were called the Three Wise Men of Quebec. Pierre became prime minister, his friends, cabinet minsters, after they took control of the Liberal party. They set out to refashion Canada in a very socialist mold. It can be argued that they have  succeeded.

Countries need to evolve and Canada is no exception. Trudeau, the elder, knew very well that political decisions are made by those who show up, be it at political conventions or at the election polls. The Trudeaus have shown they certainly know how to evolve our country but I believe their vision has been harmful to Canada.

Disclaimer: The writer serves as a volunteer chair of the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association. The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being  the view of the MCNA board or Banner & Press staff.