Justin Trudeau, the Paris Hilton of Canadian politics.....................by Mischa Popoff

Conservatives should all stand up and support Justin Trudeau in his run for the leadership of the Grits.

If an impuissant environmentalist like Stéphane Dion, or an effete American academic like Michael Ignatieff, or a socialist socialite like Bob Rae didn’t fire up the conservative base, just wait until the spawn of Canada’s greatest spender takes the helm of Canada’s greatest-spending party.

Laws restrict individuals. This is a good thing when it comes to criminals. But in the case of ingenuity and prosperity, the majority of bills passed by Liberals have proven detrimental.

Take for instance the Indian Act which since 1951 has prevented Canada’s First Nations from owning property; monopolized public healthcare which has killed tens of thousands of Canadians sitting on wait lists since 1966; the Official Languages Act of 1969 which, at a cost of $2.4 billion a year, and counting, has failed to change Canada’s linguistic landscape except of course in the federal civil service where les Francaphones are far overrepresented; the National Energy Program which destroyed Canada’s economy in 1981; and finally the long-gun registry which robbed lawful gun owners of their rights in 1993 and lasted right up until last year. And it’s all cheerily endorsed by the Paris Hilton of Canadian politics, Monsieur Justin Trudeau, for your own damn good!

Imagine if President Clinton had broken up Bill Gates’ Microsoft Corporation in the 1990s. Sure, Apple creator Steve Jobs might’ve endorsed that plan at the time. But then it turned out that stiff competition from Microsoft made Apple the powerhouse it is today.

Americans pay less than half what we’re forced to pay for things like basic communication services, transportation, and food, all thanks to a centralized, Liberal statist agenda, strictly controlled from Ottawa.

For the better part of the last century we’ve been taught by Liberals to despise free enterprise. Meanwhile, in the early twentieth century, John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil Company, bought up his competitors and drove inefficient oil companies in America into bankruptcy, thereby establishing an empire that lowered the cost of fuel by over 90%. That would never have happened − and won’t ever happen − under Trudeaupian Liberal rule.

Liberals at one point supported free trade, but the once-proud Liberal brand now represents a growing class of non-traders, non-doers, non-producers and non-innovators; people who devote themselves to constantly inflicting the government into the affairs of hard-working Canadians: bureaucrats, professional politicians, public-service employees, environmental and “human rights” activists, and of course a modest bevy of welfare bums.

Whether you’re a farmer, fisherman, logger, miner, small businessman, or anyone who employs himself or others, you’re forced to work every day to pay the way of these Liberal freeloaders who seek to make your life more difficult, or to put you out of business altogether. As Paul Wells puts it in the May edition of Maclean’s, “The most prominent Liberal in the country remains an admirer of government’s ability to get things done.” Aw shucks.

But look, the history of Canada has squat to do with government’s “abilities.” It’s innovative individuals that matter, in spite of, not because of, whichever party is in power.

But, alas, in Justin’s prophetic words: “Before we can convince Canadians that we have the best platform, we have to re-convince Canadians that politics should be in the business of shaping the future of Canada.”

If a Conservative said that, she’d be referring to getting government out of the way. But when someone with the Trudeau name talks about shaping your future, brace yourself, and start looking for a good bankruptcy lawyer.

Sounds like the right man to lead the Liberals to me!

This Democracy

Mischa Popoff is a freelance political writer with a degree in history.

Author of Is it Organic? The inside story of the organic industry