Forward! (really?)

Every time I hear the imperative “Forward!” from the Liberals in this election, my mind immediately conjures an image from my studies of World War 1.

It is of an out-of-touch British officer cynically blowing a whistle (as they did then) and ordering well-meaning citizen soldiers to go up and over the top of the trench into murderous machine gun fire in another futile attack that lacked ingenuity or imagination. Each of those citizen soldiers did so to preserve the society that higher-ranking officers benefited from.

With that in mind, let’s look at what “Forward!” means today and where Justin Trudeau’s elitist government would take us if re-elected.

Let’s start with your wallets.

Currently, our government is $730 billion in debt. That equates to more than $50,000 per household. You and I owe that.

What’s more, this Liberal government has added an astronomical $71 billion to that debt over just the last four years alone.

What did Justin Trudeau spend $71 billion on since he has been elected? Has your life become $71 billion better since 2015, or $71 billion more affordable? 

Remember, it was Justin Trudeau who said during the 2015 election, “I am looking straight at Canadians and being honest…We said we are committed to balanced budgets. And we are. We will balance that budget in 2019.” 

Well, it’s 2019 and Justin Trudeau delivered another crippling $20-billion deficit. He lied to get our vote then and he will do it again.

I don’t believe that voters here in Van Centre want four more years of a government that lies, not only about spending, but about things that go on behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, your current representative, Hedy Fry, has blindly gone along with everything Trudeau has done.

Hedy Fry stayed silent as her Liberal colleague, Jody Wilson-Raybould—like her, a woman, Vancouverite, and member of a minority—was tossed under the bus for standing up for judicial independence against Trudeau amid the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

Hedy Fry did nothing when Trudeau shamefully (and unsuccessfully) tried to bully and crush Vice-Admiral Mark Norman because Norman had the audacity to defend the neutrality of our military procurement process from blatant Liberal political interference.

In both cases, the SNC affair and the Norman case, Trudeau illegally interfered specifically in order to help his elite Liberal friends. Not for ordinary Canadians.

Hedy also stood silent in the midst of Justin Trudeau’s unforgivable, multiple uses of black and brown face. 

And she’s gone along with Justin’s tax increases that make the cost of living higher for you and other hard-working people of this riding—young families, business owners, seniors who have paid their fair share throughout their lives.

Is that the ignorant and elitist “Forward!” the Liberals speak of?

It’s time for change. It’s time for a government that remembers it is their job to make your life better, more affordable, more convenient, and more manageable. It’s time for a government that believes in your ability to make choices about your hard-earned dollars.

It’s time to get rid of a prime minister who called our small business owners "tax cheats", while giving wealthy long-time Liberal friends, Loblaw Cos., $12 million for new refrigerators in order to “fight global climate change”. Loblaw is a hugely profitable conglomerate that competes directly against our struggling family-owned independent, grocery stores—which received exactly zero dollars and zero help from this government.

It’s time to end all that—the arrogance, the virtue-signaling, and the patronizing approach to governing in which the Liberals think they are better at spending your money than you are.

I and the Conservatives believe voters are best equipped to decide what to do with their taxes in order to succeed.

It’s time for a fresh start and a new representative in Vancouver Centre. Someone with a business background like me—not someone who has been a politician for almost three decades and who lost touch with ordinary Canadians years ago—to be your voice in Ottawa.

The larger question in this election really is: who do you trust to ensure that government leaves more money in your pocket so that you and your family can get ahead?

The out-of-touch, elitist, officer blowing the whistle, and shouting “Forward” in my earlier example? Or your fellow citizen soldier, with nothing more to gain than you?

On Monday (October 21), vote Conservative.