Conrad Black: With Trudeau re-elected, there are long years ahead

National Post

If the government does not take capital attraction and retention and competitive tax rates seriously, the climate in Canada will change, but not meteorologically.

It should be noted that the complacent tone of the successful re-election campaign of the government was based on the superior quality of life of Canada, the ability of its people and the stability of its institutions. That is certainly the opinion of the moderate left and the ruling liberals carried this message and were, in electoral terms, ratified. The somewhat less enthusiastic conservatives led the popular vote, but the non-regional leftist, liberal, new Democrats and green parties, although they had many suggestions on how to be more “progressive” and go more to the left, were unanimous in their opinion.

It is easy to assume that with half of a rich continent and a neighbor that, regardless of the abrasions that have occurred, has been relatively peaceful and a receptive and immense market, it was easy to build Canada. But it was very difficult. Baldwin and LaFontaine and Macdonald and Cartier had to be agitated enough to obtain British assent to the independence of Canada, but not to irritate the British so much that they exchanged their interest in Canada to the United States for another consideration.

It should be done better

This is the context of last week’s elections, in which, as we all noted, the general purrs of satisfaction (and self-satisfaction) produced confirmation of the majority of the voters.

Money is not everything and Canadian history is undoubtedly not poor, but it justifies the concern and we must do better. Climate change is not, as the prime minister said on election night, the biggest problem facing Canada. Such a statement is frivolous, a vanity and a silly and worrying abuse of his position as the winner of the elections to reinforce a pointless stance that someone at the higher levels of government must know is false. Regardless of what is happening with the weather, we do not know its scope, the direction, if it will be positive or negative if human activity influences it, and we know that Canada’s impact on the global climate is almost nil.

If the federal government does not take capital attraction and retention and competitive tax rates seriously with the United States, the climate in this country will certainly change, but not meteorologically. This government is interpreting its slender victory, defeated by conservatives in the popular vote and with a growing secessionist sentiment in Quebec and Alberta, as a mandate to waste billions more of shadowboxing with the chimera of climate change. No doubt difficult years are coming.

Source: Conrad Black | National Post

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