Lead, Follow or get out of the Way.

The West is at a Crossroads.

Since there is not one Western politician or media personality that I trust to comment on the serious allegations of election interference by China, I guess its up to me.?First of all, there has never been a greater threat to Canada than Chinese election interference and those threats include Nazi Germany, The Cold war and even the various attempts at invasion by the United States.?All the other threats had two things in common.?They all united Canada, and the threat was not internal.?The one word that all of Justin Trudeau’s opponents are afraid to use is the one word that needs to be used, and that word is Treason.

??If we were just talking about the issue of election interference it would be bad enough, but we see all political parties getting rid of Tik Tok because it is finally recognised as part of China’s intelligence gathering apparatus. Then there are the serious revelations that the most destructive pandemic in modern history may have been manufactured in China with the entire political system unwilling to ask the most important question ‘Was this done on purpose’? ??These facts coupled with the fact that this pandemic allowed authoritarian rule to override democratic process gives us every right to look at China in an unfavourable light.?Yet the ongoing exposures that this is not a new issue, coupled with the entire Liberal party trying to downplay the seriousness of the threat, brings into question not only the loyalties of the Liberal party of Canada, but the lack of democratic safeguards that we all took for granted.

?Those who think that this is just another federal matter are ignoring the warnings from the CSIS that foreign political interference extends to provincial and even municipal levels.?If we were to face some harsh realities, we would be forced to acknowledge that foreign political interference has infested our political system from top to bottom.?It is no secret that the destructive environmental movement is both funded and coordinated by outside influences, and although the education system might be following a toxic ideological script, the blueprint is imported.

?In the past decade we have seen a disturbing development where big city mayors pursue powers well beyond their mandates with a host of unqualified mayors making the most destructive decisions while pursuing an authoritarian agenda. Big city mayors have elevated themselves to a position where they challenge not only Provincial, but Federal jurisdiction and take on the mantle of monarchs ruling over their own private fiefdoms. The unwillingness of Premiers to assert themselves over these mayors has allowed city mayors to create a new political layer whose agenda often conflicts with that of our elected premiers and indeed the best interests of the province.?Foreign influence at a municipal level is a far bigger problem than is generally acknowledged.

?The overriding question is often ‘How are we going to deal with this problem’??However, since it is becoming increasingly obvious that the issue of foreign interference is not new, the real question should be ‘What is the extent of the problem?’?For an issue this serious to remain unacknowledged for this long brings into question, not only the loyalty of the Prime Minister, but the loyalty of The Liberal party of Canada, the entire Liberal friendly media, Canada’s security apparatus and even the abilities of the Conservative party who are unable to confront the threat over these past decades.

?I hear journalists praising the courage of individual journalists and even members of Canada’s security apparatus who leaked the damning information.?The adulation heaped on these individuals for going against the wishes of their established professions is no cause for rejoicing, because it merely confirms the depth of the problem.?We must now conclude that Canada’s CSIS may have actively suppressed the issue of foreign interference and the media was part of that suppression.?

?As it is clear that the safeguards of our democracy are compromised then any solutions to the problem must start at the very grassroots of the democracy and that is the general population…us. The default response from the population will be a chorus of accusations against each other starting with the juvenile and unhelpful suggestion that people need to ‘Wake up!’ Canadian politicians have been allowed to become smug because of a population who are too quick to blame each other for a problem that is exclusively the fault of our political system especially a biased media. People are working with what they have, but it is hard to drive a sabotaged vehicle.?The problem with the general population is not based on ignorance of an obvious situation, but on a state sponsored image of what patriotism is. Canadian values and perceived threats to those values are being decided by those who look down on the general public’s ability to decide for themselves what and who they are.?Digging deeper, the derision Canadian politic class shows to the people has historic roots.

?I was born in 1956, a short ten years after WW2.?Canada survived WW2 because the population supported the idea of unquestioned patriotism.?The mantra was ‘Canadians don’t question authority’, and this mentality certainly played a useful part when the country, and the world, were fighting for their existence.?The residue of this mentality has had unfortunate consequences where Canada’s political establishment have interpreted blind patriotism as an indication of a docile population who are incapable of leading themselves.

??Quebec’s individuality might irritate many Westerners, but it is Quebec’s unwillingness to slavishly compromise coupled with the underlying threat to take the breakup of Canada out of the hands of Ottawa, that gives them power.?In the West there are still too many hoping that some inner goodness exists in Canada’s political system and that the Canada of their past can be saved.?These Westerners are the greatest asset Justin Trudeau’s toxic legions have as their desire to save a national illusion. It is interpreted as a conformation that the West is inhabited by political bovines who don’t have the ability to become Wolves. It was a blind patriotism that allowed this situation to exist and flourish, so it is blind patriotism to an outdated concept of Canada that must now be sacrificed.

?The plead from the old Reform party was ‘The West wants in’.?In view of the sacrifices the West has made to Canada, especially in two world wars, this statement was a groveling humiliation for the West.?The Reform party gained incredible potential for Western influence, and then squandered it all in the hope of saving an illusion of what Canada should be.?A decade of stable government under Stephan Harper, gave way to the most destructive Prime Minister in Canadian history, yet no Westerner wants to admit that the ‘Unite the Right’ movement was ultimately a failure.

?The West is now at a crossroads and the revelations that foreign election interference extends to both municipal and Provincial elections, does not allow for us to downplay the issue, or look to Ottawa for guidance. ?The West must stop trying to save Canada when the number one priority is now, saving ourselves. Our elected MPs have put the loyalty to their parties ahead of their loyalties to their constituents, so they have no useful part to play in our future.?The battle to save the West needs to start in the West at a provincial level and no provincial parties or media personality can be allowed to sit this one out.

?Our elected MLAs can no longer be silent on the issue of provincial autonomy.?We can no longer afford politicians whose only priority is an unearned pension.?The various boards of directors who support these politicians can not allow board meetings to be dedicated to merely being enablers of underperforming politicians.?The overriding concern of all political conversations, especially political board meetings, must be the recognition of threats and how we will confront them.?The various news medias, especially those who identify as having a Conservative lean, have become useless as they content themselves with telling us what we already know.?The last thing we need is anyone telling us problems without being part of the solution.?The one-off political editorial with a sprinkling of comments, one hour talk shows that garner a few hurried call ins, are all part of a system of communication that are inadequate to the kind of real dialogue that the West needs.?Westerners want, and need, to have a serious conversation about our future and it is time the Western media makes it easy to have that conversation.

?The Reform party showed us that the restlessness of the West can be galvanized into action.?It is only the lack of vision and leadership that is preventing the West from destroying Trudeau’s perception of us as merely a squabbling group of troublesome colonies.?All Westerner politicians and political influencers need to follow an old adage ‘Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way’.?At this point in our history, the one thing the West cannot afford is indecision.

Mark Nickel