Ethics and Politics

When we think of the basic principals of Conservatism we should think of free trade and personal freedom in making our way in life. Little government involvement as possible and certainly no taxpayers money aiding or interfering in the free enterprise system. Well here we are with the Prime Minister, a hand full of cabinet ministers and forty business people travelling to China to beg for business. The business people incidentally are the oil , lumber and commodities, folks who have the Canadian resources at their disposal.

Already our government gives huge tax breaks to these companies which are for the most part foreign owned. The oil companies have huge cash reserves and show profits unheard of in most circles except maybe the financial business which control much of the economic energy of our country.

Our government cries foul if you mention socialism in any form except their own. We live in a time where big business is often larger and more powerful than their political masters and have the ability to bully governments into decisions which are not always in the interests of the ordinary citizen.

I have stated on numerous occasions that big business have one objective and that is their bottom line. Profit is their motivation and ethics have little to do with their decision making. A case in point is this trip to China where we are dealing with a country which has numerous civil liberty violations and a record of turning a deaf ear to the western worlds concerns. Their behaviour along with that of Russia is causing the rest of the world to be held hostage in regard to the Syrian question. Here is one example where we as a country could be more forceful in our outrage about the slaughter of innocent peace seeking people wishing to have the same freedoms that we enjoy. We instead , with full knowledge of the Chinese stand in this regard seek more trading deals for our big business.

I wonder what our stand would be regarding China's behaviour if we were not seeking  financial benefits through trade agreements. Should we even be trading with China or any country which does not meet the standard of international civility as laid out in the United Nations constitution? These considerations are very difficult to work around and we hope that our leadership shows the correct posture so we are a shinning beacon of correctness rather than a nation only seeking to protect our economic base and powerful multinational companies.

Perhaps some of the answers are found in  the decisions currently being considered at home. The new laws regarding minimum sentencing, more prisons and the ending of the long gun registry, less emphasis on the environment, more emphasis on offensive weapons for our peace  keeping armed forces ( fighter jets) and a much more closed house of commons  are but a few of major changes in our Canadian sensibility. I feel it and so do many more and my wish is that the new conservative goals for our country leave it in a state where we can be proud to say on the world stage that we are Canadian.