Hugh Mackenzie
Huntsville Doppler
Does the Truth Matter?
What happens to a society that doesn’t care about truth anymore? I have a horrible feeling we are almost there. I also wonder if it is a symptom or a tactic.
Some years ago, well before he entered politics, Donald Trump wrote a book titled, “Art of The Deal”. In it he wrote that if you tell someone a lie three times, they will believe it. In more recent times, he has taken that philosophy to a whole new level. There were so many mistruths and misstatements issued by the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, that fact checking, an important role for the media in a democratic society, became impossible and eventually redundant. In many instances, statements based on sheer whim or fantasy and without a factual basis quickly became accepted as truth. Why? Because Trump has proven that lying works. It got him elected. People heard what they wanted to hear and they didn’t care what tactics were used to achieve the changes they were looking for. After a while, truth is not nearly as important as the immediate outcome.
We are not immune to this phenomenon in Canada. While it is part of our nature to be skeptical of politicians, we are also somewhat trusting and believe in general that they serve the best interests of our country. But often, we do not want to be confused by facts even though the denial of facts is, in itself, a form of lying.
Here is what Justin Trudeau told us during the last election campaign and over his first year as Prime Minister. He would create a federal deficit of $10 billion to pay for his campaign promises. We would return to a balanced budget by 2019. The country would be in sound financial shape by the end of his first term in government. It worked. We believed him. It helped get him elected. Once in Government, these projections were changed from a $10 billion deficit to a $25 billion deficit in 2017 alone and no balanced budget for at least six years. Almost no one blinked.
Now, less than a year later, here is what we hear from the bureaucrats, the professionals, the number crunchers in Canada’s Civil Service. Financially, Canada is heading for a meltdown. According to a Postmedia article by Anthony Furey, they believe that higher program spending (initiated by the Trudeau Government) and lower than projected growth would be “sufficient to put at risk the fiscal sustainability of the federal government.” Without changes to current policy, Canada will not see a balanced budget until 2055 and by 2050 our debt will have reached $1.55 trillion, double our current debt. Some of us won’t care because we won’t be here by then. But my grandchildren will only be in their thirties in 2050 and I damn well do care.
It is no wonder that the Federal Government snuck this report out the back door during the Christmas holiday. It is potentially devastating. Their own bureaucrats are projecting the possibility of our financial collapse within the next 35 years. Their own bureaucrats are saying that the Government’s tax and spend policies must change to avoid disaster. It is not something any Government would be happy about sharing.
The Trudeau Government is still standing by its most recent financial projections which are hugely at odds with the professionals in the civil service. They have yet to demonstrate that their policies must change. I am aware of many new government expenditures, both inside and outside of Canada. but I cannot think of a single projected program that has been cut. What amazes me is that few people seem to care. It seems to me we want to believe the better news, even if it ignores the facts.
If the concerns of the Government’s Finance Department carry any validity at all, Prime Minister Trudeau and his Cabinet face a tremendous challenge. We do not need to be lulled into a sense of complacency. We do not need the Prime Minister to embark on a good-will tour, complete with the selfies it will produce, to tell the “grass roots” of our country how much he cares for them. What we need is the Prime Minister in Ottawa, dealing with what could be the largest potential crisis in our history. We need the plain unvarnished truth and we need a realistic plan to deal with it.
We are, in my view, creeping dangerously into an era of deception. We are seeing it in politics. We are seeing it in the media and we are seeing it on the internet. The truth doesn’t seem to matter that much any more and if we don’t do something about it, one day that is going to come back to bite us on the butt.
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free, twice-weekly newsletter here.
When you run on debit no good will come at the end. Also, it is unlikely we will indeed stuff another 2.2 Billion people onto this Earth successfully, at least not if they all want to drive around in 3 ton diesel pick up trucks.
Heck we might even just run out of breathable air!
Mr. Holland is right for the short term, there is no option but nuclear power at the moment but we should be looking at ways to gradually lower our population so we don’t emulate the good old school experiment with fruit flies but on a larger scale.
We need to learn how to live within our means, both financially and in the consumption of our planet’s resources and adding 2.2 billion more people is not the way to do this.
Of course Canada is not the one adding the people but regardless of this I don’t trust our government, any of them, to be good leaders in this direction. They can’t do the job and then resort to number fudging in a sad effort to stay in power. Call it lying or stretching the truth or whatever but it won’t work for the long term.
We need a better system soon.
The USA needs it NOW!
Liz and Hugh;
You folks do a fine job with the Doppler website. I look forward to every change. Keep up the good work.
Tell it like it is, and you’ll never run out out of material.
Kindest regards,
If we stand pat on climate change during the next few years, the economy 40 years from now will be the least of our problems.
Ah Ted…..I had hoped you might miss this one. I will try to be more gentle in the future!!
Mr Mackenzie, I’m surprised to see a thoughtful and progressive-minded individual such as your good self, indeed one who has led Huntsville and Muskoka so successfully in the past, drawn in by the post-truth dog whistle of the conservative/Conservative nutbars at the National Post.
A 4 day weather forecast has some reasonable probability of being correct.
7 days out , not so much. Longer is mostly conjecture.
The same applies to Government budget forecasts , only in years , not days.
I agree that both Troudough and Wynne have spending ( and therefore ) deficit problems , but let’s focus on the size of the problem in the next 5 years , not 50.
Some facts are important and shocking!!
The federal debt in Canada with 35 million people goes up by over $70 million A DAY!!! It’s total debt is over $600 billion.
Worse than that, the Province of Ontario, with 13.6 million citizens owes over $300 billion. Ontario is the largest non-sovereign debtor in the world. Twice as big as California’s !!
Clearly we in Ontario are in double trouble.
The Debt Clocks should be on your Masthead for all to see every day. Set the example and maybe more media will turn the spotlight on this disgusting legacy.
Hugh: Can you pen an article on how the media reinforce polarity in American politics? On how the various media are a) sacrificing truth for profit (NBC; CBS); b) reinforcing existing biases by ignoring opposing views (internet news feeds); using customer-supplied data to reinforce biases ( Facebook); using Twitter to literally short-circuit truth ( Twitter) ?
One thing I have always admired about your editorials is that, while you clearly state that your are a conservative, you nevertheless include discussion of opposing ideas.
Dave
Add to that the total fantasy of environmental extremists who want to kill every new pipeline in order to kill Canada’s oil industry. By 2055, the world will add another 2.2 billion people. That’s the equivalent of 61 new countries of Canada that will need energy to have any kind of a decent future. Wind and solar power can make a small contribution but only advanced nuclear power has anywhere near the potential to replace fossil fuels. But no government anywhere has the courage to fight the delusional anti-nuclear movement. After 20 years of installing wind and solar, fossil fuels still supply 80% of the world’s energy and the world will need Canada’s oil beyond 2055. Let’s get the pipelines built (Safely of course). the Energy East Pipeline will stop US discounting and stop having to buy imported oil for Eastern Canada. That will supply the equivalent of Canada’s entire federal contribution to health care or defence budget. Stopping Canada’s oil output will cripple our economy and have an insignificant superficial impact on climate change.
Only a couple more years of this financial lightweight. I don’t really want to be bother with money so I will tour Canada and hear nice people say nice things about me while they take my picture. Apparently like Miz Wynne when it comes to spending other people’s money..” What Me Worry”…..Alfred E Trudough !!!!