Bring in the new recruit

January 23, 2025 · 0 Comments

by BRIAN LOCKHART

Every few years I’m required to renew my firearms license.

It’s not a big deal. You fill out a form and submit it with payment and a new photo. If you’re a firearms owner in good standing, you’ll receive your new license in a few weeks.

There are several questions you must answer when requesting your license renewal.

You are asked if you are drug or alcohol-dependent – and that’s a legitimate question for someone who wants to own a gun.

The last thing anyone needs is Zeke, the crazy neighbour, getting drunk and firing off a few rounds from the front porch.

There is also a question asking if you have had a recent marital break-up or the break-up of a significant relationship.

Apparently, having a break-up of some sort could significantly affect your ability to make sound and rational decisions. At least that’s what the authorities who decide who gets a gun license must think.

There’s probably a good reason behind that question.

For most of the law-abiding gun-owning population, having your girlfriend split for the coast won’t cause you to start shooting up the street.

The last time I had to fill out a license renewal form, it just happened that at the same time, the Prime Minister had announced that he and his wife were calling it quits and heading for a divorce.

I kind of chuckled as I wrote my answer on the form.

If having a marital break-up was considered a possibly serious problem for someone who had a firearm locked up in the basement, what impact would the same negative experience have on someone who is running the country?

Although, I don’t think a divorce would really cause a collapse of an existing government.

Mr. Trudeau has now announced his resignation and his intent to step down while a new leader for the Liberal Party is chosen.

This isn’t really a big surprise.

Most two-term prime ministers in Canada end up leaving with a lot of people angry at them. You can be a popular leader in this country for about five years – after that, it’s downhill. The difference in this case is Trudeau’s own party turned against him.

There are plenty of citizens who have never liked that P.M. That’s obvious from the many protests, some still ongoing, against his policies.

I think he did some good. He was a high-profile prime minister internationally, even if his high profile came from his youthful looks and already well-known surname.

He certainly kept the Canadian profile large on an international level. He’s one of the few, maybe the only world leader, who met Queen Elizabeth in a personal setting when he was a child, and again when was the leader of the country.

Overall, I think many of his policies have flopped.

His carbon tax system managed to raise the cost of gas considerably, and that was the intent. The result was higher transportation costs which translated directly to higher prices for everyday necessities like food. This sparked a new round of inflation as every other business in the country piled on to increase their prices, whether justified or not.

All this inflation while wages stagnate has made for a very difficult situation for millions of Canadians.

Trudeau’s policy on immigration has become a total disaster. That’s not all his fault. The Liberal think tanks in Ottawa, which influence government policy, have all determined for some reason, that the county needs to dramatically increase its population to be successful.

The geniuses in the think tanks apparently have not done much research. Many of the most successful countries on the planet have small and steady populations.

Nordic countries in particular have small populations, yet enjoy a good life and a good standard of living.

The mass immigration we have experienced over the past several years has backfired, and born-and-bred Canadians are paying the price.

With so many people arriving on our shores, the demand for housing has gone through the roof – especially in Ontario – and so has the demand for a price when selling.

I know plenty of younger people who cannot afford to buy a house in their own hometown – and that is an absolute shame.

We definitely need some new federal policies to get the current situation under control.

Any new federal government must start thinking of the welfare of Canadians first, and last, and create new policies that benefit the citizens of this country.

They must listen to the voice of the country’s citizens, not some Ottawa think tank with a misguided agenda.