Opinion

For Canadians, the reality of living side by side with the United States, “mouse to bear” to paraphrase Pierre Trudeau, has produced feelings of impotence and inferiority. To compensate, an illusion of moral superiority has evolved in Canada.

Thus many Canadians, while acknowledging overall American dominance, silently feel morally superior. In reality, the current debate over abortion policy in the United States suggest that Americans have more real freedom and personal liberty than exists in Canada where opposition to abortion has been suppressed.

In the U.S. the government sanctioned the slaughter of over 33 million unborn Americans, since Roe v. Wade in 1973, which has become a hot issue in the run-up to the 1996 Presidential elections. As in Canada, pro-abortion zealots, aided by legions of accomplices in the media, have tried to distract public attention from the reality of the violent death of the unborn baby by concentrating on the issue of court legislated “abortion rights.”

Unlike its Canadian counterpart, the U.S. constitution, perhaps written in a less cynical time, when faith in the wisdom and spiritual power of the individual prevailed over special interests, confers real political power to Americans. Concern at the grass roots about the moral and economic destruction caused by abortion has forced this issue back onto the national agenda. In Canada, perhaps hampered by its colonial past, dominated by a non-democratic ruling elite, a tradition of individual liberty and responsibility has been slow to evolve.

In place of true democracy, Canadians have been force fed, and many have willingly consumed, an ersatz illusion of democracy. A plethora of imaginary paper rights without responsibilities, such as the right to free sex without for either the other person involved, the family, or any new life which might result, has been created. An irrational political correctness, more spiritually stifling than that in the U.S., has been created at great expense.

The practice of conformist self-censorship has become a predominant virtue in a society which focuses almost exclusively on present and financially unsustainable, immediate gratification and “damn the expense of future generations.” Many young Canadians have been educated, (indoctrinated?), in a social environment which is indifferent or even hostile to the objective analysis of the fundamental relationships between rights and responsibilities, both private and public, which are prerequisite to the establishment of a just, peaceful and stable society. The most recent surge of nationalism in Quebec may be attributable, at least in part, to an inflexible political correctness on both sides, which precludes a simple resolution of the legitimate differences which divide the famous two solitudes of Canada.

Fundamental democratic grassroots expression rarely occurs in Canada because most Canadians realize that, in terms of real political power, they are impotent. In the November 1994 elections in the United States, voter dissatisfaction with the status quo initiated fundamental changes in the direction of American government. In June of 1995, opposition to yet another pro-abortion Surgeon General was, in part, responsible for the defeat of the nomination of Henry Foster.

In Canada, political leaders have been able to finesse the basic question of protecting the lives of all human beings and divert attention to the more abstract question of civil rights. Elections for public office have become, in representative respects, meaningless, voters are asked to choose a representative, who once elected is effectively powerless, from a slate of candidates which is the political equivalent of the comedic characters Curly, Larry and Moe, of Three Stooges fame.

“Good Canadians” pretend that the loss of over 1.5 million people since 1969 has not contributed to the economic and moral degeneration of the country. Anyone who dares question the wisdom and justice of abortion is immediately and viciously attacked as an anti-feminist, anti-Semitic, homophobic Neanderthal.

The Prime Minister claims to be concerned about the negative effects of abortions on Canadian society. Yet he suppresses any movement in his own caucus to assess the real impact of abortion that might threaten his re-election

Somewhere over the course of a paint-besplotted career Picasso is reported to have said that all art, and by extension all culture, is a lie which points us to the truth. The culture of abortion is a supranational lie which transcends national borders dehumanizing all that it touches. In the waning years of the “Canadian Century” it is clear that abortion has sapped the national will. Canadians have dropped the ball.

As philosopher king-cum-prime minister, Pierre Trudeau once mused in a different context, it would appear that the country has not been able to muster the character and integrity necessary, particularly at the senior levels of government, to build a truly just society. At present, absent the influence of its southern neighbour, it is not at all certain that Canada possesses the moral and cultural resources necessary to rise above the third world status which is the lot of other less geographically advantaged former colonies.