By Peter Christensen

Op-Ed Commentary

It has never been easy to be a Canadian!

The Liberals appointed a conservative leader of their Party and Canadians approved. The Conservatives continue to hang on to a complaining leader with scant vision who did not pay enough attention to win a seat in his home riding. Our local MLA appears on Facebook in a different coloured custom-made suit at every photo opportunity!

Many Liberals who were outspoken during the 10-year Justin Trudeau spending and hiring spree are dumbfounded as to what their party stands for? These outspoken ones were strangely silent when PM Carney, their leader, a banker, joined forces with Alberta’s United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith to address Canada’s debt.

These two leaders are under no illusion about how services and infrastructure are paid for or as to what principles hold aging empires together and prevent Queen-less currencies from collapsing.

Erstwhile ‘Environmentalists’ have come out of repose to declare their love for ancient forests and foggy creatures. Passionate letters defending the Pacific ‘White Bears’ have been dug out, dusted off and published with no attention paid to coastal diesel consumption.

For the 2023 fiscal year, BC Ferries alone consumed approximately 109 million liters.  These same citizens expurgate from their consciousness the ‘working class’ that everyday stands naked under the spraying shower nozzles of the world’s petroleum projects to clean the running scars that gouge the underside of their forearms and their exposed calves.

Post-modern saviors are in love with socialist ideals yet covet foreign cars and chrome kitchen appliances that magically appear in Costco shopping carts?

‘Workers’ are being asked by educated saviors to exfoliate their hard-won allegiance to the captains of industry and government by joining a generation of emotional offspring to shut down transportation; this generation of acolytes have never lived without heat or plastic or fresh yellow bananas tended in the tropics, transported by diesel fired equipment to refrigerated ships and trucks to their local grocery stores where they bulge invitingly on bough laden shelves in December, ready for morning consumption with protein enhanced corn flakes.

The sad truth is we will have to put our best minds to work to safely transport goods, and yes, there will be mistakes and tragedies. We must lead the way in safety and be able to address tragedy, that is the world we live in. (Premier David Eby says small oil spills will be tolerated.)

I admire entrants who stand up and fiercely paint worst case scenarios and outcomes. Their exploration of landscape, interior and exterior is worthy. They encourage and demand progressive thinking from this extraordinary, demanding and confused world.

Sometimes ‘no’ is the right answer, sometimes ‘no’ is driven by political ambition and inhibits timely solutions. Sometimes the rest of the world just doesn’t give a shit what we think.

– Peter Christensen is a Columbia Valley based writer and poet.

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