Exactly What Are "Canadian Values"?

As and adjunct to my column last Monday, wherein I take voters to task for the quality of our government, I’d like to talk about Canadian values. Over the years I often hear politicians talking about what Canadians want. Alexa McDonough was famous for starting her rants with "The people of Canada want/do not want…" and then telling us what she did/did not want. Another famous expert on Canadian values is the current Prime Minister, Paul Martin, who during last year’s election campaign positioned himself and the Liberal Party as being synonymous with true Canadianism. Conversely his references to the Conservatives’ "hidden agenda" were clearly indicative that they were the exact opposite.

I recall numerous voters talking about how Stephen Harper and the Conservatives "scared the hell" out of them because of their leaders’ religious beliefs. Interesting concept. People who hold essentially moral beliefs "scare the hell" out of us, while those who nihilistically believe in nothing but hanging onto power are representative of Canadian values.

The columnist Mark Steyn recently made an interesting point. Writing in The Western Standard, Steyn postulates that had the Quebec separatists of the 1960s opted not to reject Catholicism, Quebec’s dominant religion, then quite possibly la belle Province would be la belle country today. The reason it isn’t is that rejecting religion and its attendant moral teachings has resulted in Quebec having the highest number of abortions and the lowest birthrate of any jurisdiction in North America. So when the time to hold the referendum came around, there weren’t enough young Quebecers to carry the day for the separatists.

Steyn’s point is that had Quebecers not discarded the moral teachings of the church, there would have been fewer abortions and more births, meaning that there would have been a lot more young Quebecers who might have voted "oui".

Exactly what are "Canadian Values"?
by Klaus Rohrich
Thursday, April 14, 2005

As and adjunct to my column last Monday, wherein I take voters to task for the quality of our government, I’d like to talk about Canadian values. Over the years I often hear politicians talking about what Canadians want. Alexa McDonough was famous for starting her rants with "The people of Canada want/do not want…" and then telling us what she did/did not want. Another famous expert on Canadian values is the current Prime Minister, Paul Martin, who during last year’s election campaign positioned himself and the Liberal Party as being synonymous with true Canadianism. Conversely his references to the Conservatives’ "hidden agenda" were clearly indicative that they were the exact opposite.

I recall numerous voters talking about how Stephen Harper and the Conservatives "scared the hell" out of them because of their leaders’ religious beliefs. Interesting concept. People who hold essentially moral beliefs "scare the hell" out of us, while those who nihilistically believe in nothing but hanging onto power are representative of Canadian values.

The columnist Mark Steyn recently made an interesting point. Writing in The Western Standard, Steyn postulates that had the Quebec separatists of the 1960s opted not to reject Catholicism, Quebec’s dominant religion, then quite possibly la belle Province would be la belle country today. The reason it isn’t is that rejecting religion and its attendant moral teachings has resulted in Quebec having the highest number of abortions and the lowest birthrate of any jurisdiction in North America. So when the time to hold the referendum came around, there weren’t enough young Quebecers to carry the day for the separatists.

Steyn’s point is that had Quebecers not discarded the moral teachings of the church, there would have been fewer abortions and more births, meaning that there would have been a lot more young Quebecers who might have voted "oui".

It’s not a stretch to see how this could apply equally to the rest of Canada. In the new, improved Canada, Canadian values are represented by high welfare rolls, intrusive government, the destruction of our traditional culture in favour a multiculturalism, reduced productivity, high taxes and a steep decline in the birth rate. The luminaries who are creating this brave new country deem embracing old-fashioned ideals "reactionary". Hence anyone espousing conservative values, or religious beliefs, or traditional family values must, by definition, have a "hidden agenda".

It’s also interesting to note that the voters of Ontario who are responsible for the Liberals getting re-elected would prefer to choose a government that has no values, rather than one that has traditional values. This week’s polls showing that the Liberals and Conservatives are neck in neck is living proof. Despite all the smoking guns stinking up the Gomery inquiry the Liberals are at the same level of popularity as the Conservatives. Some Toronto radio stations were carrying the usual man-in-the-street interviews, which yielded an embarrassing array of moral bankruptcy. Many of those asked thought that the conservatives may not yet "be ready" to govern. Some thought that this scandal was Jean Chretien’s scandal, despite the fact that Paul Martin was in control of the government’s purse strings. I’m wondering what it would take for Torontonians to finally get fed up with the Liberals; being sold into slavery?

It appears that Canadians, particularly those living in the Greater Toronto Area, enjoy being robbed and lied to by their elected officials, which is either indicative of a serious guilt and self-loathing problem or a terminally compromised moral compass.

Canadians consider themselves morally superior to Americans. Who knows, maybe they are. But if Canada’s birthrate continues to hover at its current 1.48 births per woman, there soon won’t be any Canadians left to feel superior. As a nation we would be well advised to carefully examine the hogwash the Liberals have been feeding us about Canadian values these past 12 years. Under close scrutiny it appears that having "Canadian values" means having no values at all.

Klaus Rohrich is President and Creative Director of Taylor/Rohrich Associates Inc., a marketing and advertising firm that specializes in niche marketing residential real estate developments www.trmarketing.com. Email: letters@canadafreepress.com

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.