O Canada! What has become of us?
I remember when we were proud to be attempting to co-create “just societies” in this beautiful, diverse land.
Very imperfectly, we were trying to move toward a society in which all had life with dignity.
We strived to learn about and from the horrors, bigotry and mistakes of the past that led to mass slaughters called wars and the near cultural genocide of the First Peoples.
Our massive industrial capacity for production enables us all to have shorter work weeks, increased time for family/friends and more time for fun/recreation.
For a brief moment we, the taxpayer, paid people to do scientific research to inform our public policies and ensure they served the common good; enhancing the quality of life for all.
Unfortunately, that didn’t meet the needs of a tiny group of organized super-rich, who wanted to protect and enhance their privileged position of power and wealth without our knowing it.
As Jane Mayer documents in her 2016 Dark Money, there is no bar of integrity below which this tiny group of organized big money will not go – including manipulation through disinformation, distortion and fear tactics.
Having internalized the tactics used on us, we now use them on each other. Is that really the kind of community we want to be?
The much-needed supportive housing project proposed for Parksville is based on a proven “wrap-around” care model.
According to Kevin Taft’s 2012 Follow the Money and his 2017 Oil’s Deep State, the few taxes collected from Kinder Morgan increasing its capacity to transport diluted bitumen doesn’t even cover the massive taxpayer subsidies given to foreign corporations to mine and transport it.
We need to stop allowing ourselves to be fragmented through these manipulation tactics.
Yvonne Zarowny
Qualicum Beach
