Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher, essayist and poet, once said, “All promise outruns performance.” Nothing could be farther from this truth. A promise can always be broken, but if a promise is made by a politician, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, with his political career handed to him on a silver platter because of his surname, then you’ll have a leader who feels he is ruling an autocracy. He will find a way to make his promises happen even if it means earning the ire of the entire nation, ransoming a project with taxpayers money the way the Sheriff of Nottingham did to the people of Nottinghamshire, and ignoring every possible outcry of a nation who pays his salary. After all, his performance as a leader is questionable and lackluster, so keeping a promise is paramount.
The Trudeau Liberal government will implement the legalization of marijuana on July 1. What a lot of people don’t know is that Canada has signed three drug-control treaties which commit us and dozens of other countries to banning a long list of drugs, including marijuana: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Implementing the new law on July 1 will make Canada a violator of the treatise, therefore, can be sued by the world court, just like it did to Uruguay. Signatory countries are required to criminalize cannabis, just like non-medical opiates and cocaine.
Canada has supported these treatises before the Trudeau government came into power, because of their “promise” which led to their victory in 2015. These conventions, legally binding on some 73 nations in the fight against drug smuggling, has been honoured by Canada all these years. The Trudeau government has clearly signalled that the current prohibitions surrounding marijuana do not work, and cracking down on organized crime could be more easily achieved by internalizing the black market. It’s banking on that unsupported reason, along with the one regarding marijuana helping more patients who need it. In short, Canada will not be honouring these treatises and risk litigation rather than turning back on a “promise”. With uncertain legislation on the effect of the legalization in terms of accessibility and impaired driving, for instance, forcing the legalization at this point is certain to fail and more detrimental to many, especially the youth.
Another promise the Trudeau government had forced taxpayers to buy is the Kinder Morgan pipeline. No one asked them to buy it, but because it was a promise to their political supporters and the bullies back in Texas, we, the taxpayers, had to buy the whole deal, and pay for it with our hard-earned money. In addition to that, Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish First Nation says the federal government failed to consult or gain consent of First Nations for the expansion of the oil pipeline, so they have no choice but to try to protect their land in the courts. He said that the first pipeline built sixty years ago was done without their approval. Now he says, they are demanding the government a higher bar of engagement that leads to true environmental assessments that look to First Nations consent. There were seven First Nations, the cities of Burnaby and Vancouver, and two environmental groups that are asking the court to overturn the federal government’s decision to approve the expansion of the $7.4-billion pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, and the Trudeau government completely ignored them because of their “promise” to the pipeline fat cats in the US that have supported the Liberals well.
Trudeau continues his “promise” trip by getting an audience with Pope Francis and demanding that the Pontiff come to Canada and formally apologize to the First Nations people for the indignation that the children of residential schools established years ago. While Trudeau continues to twist people’s arms, including the Pope’s, to get what he wants, most First Nations who are Catholic seek healing rather than an apology, since it was already given by the Church. They also seek reparation from the Canadian government in the form of programs that can help them move on. Of course, Trudeau does not hear that, and insists that the Pope’s apology, a promise of his, is what will make things alright in his books.
While promises are meant to be broken, it appears that Trudeau doesn’t want to break his. After all, it’s what won him the votes. According to pundits, if he were to run today, however, he would lose, simply because people saw under the facade of the smile, and his inability to answer questions when there wasn’t a script. This time, golden boy will not get his way when he realizes his promises mean nothing to many Canadians.