Are Citizens Losing Trust in Government?

The following letter to the editor was published by the Cape Breton Post recently. Mr. Charles Sampson is making a valuable point in his letter. Here is what was published: Three decades of advocacy by Fr. Albert Maroun and his Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness supporters to try and rekindle the public vigilance against authoritative and unaccountable governments has not been successful enough given the same old repeated response received from the Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to the ongoing equalization dishonesty by governments. Freeland’s response, like all the rest received from politicians for decades on this subject matter, mimic the same old tired and unanswered questions that are watched for years on Parliament Hill during the wasteful and political gamesmanship hour of Question Period. Some government spokepersons have arrogantly defended this practice by arguing that the parliamentary period is called “Question Period” and not “Answer Period.” Many Cape Bretoners must acknowledge that our political system and its politicians have seriously eroded the public trust that is essential to any responsible and democratic government. The destruction of public trust is the first step in the destruction of a political system. When politicians refuse to be honest, which demands being transparent and accountable, with the citizenry, as is the case with the equalization illegal manipulation, they are officially exhibiting their contempt for the populace. They are usurping the people’s power without any degree of modesty to send the public a message of how inferior and powerless they have become. People should be aware of the concept of the enemy within. The perseverance by a vigilant citizenry against any creeping signs of authoritarianism getting established in the political system is necessary to preserve its democratic fabric. But hasn’t the equalization struggle shown that the citizens have become an enemy by forgetting to remember the consequences of its own message? The history of the equalization corruption struggle by Fr. Maroun clearly illustrates governments/political parties have not been acting as the guardians of a democratic political system. And the public must bear some responsibility, too, for its lack of attention and vigilance necessary to have avoided this development. Unless the public holds this political system’s politicians accountable, not only for their undemocratic manipulation of its constitutional obligation pursuant to Section 36 of the Constitution Act, 1982, there are enough other major destabilizing issues happening in the so-called democratic governments that are beginning to expose the level of unhealthy authoritarianism and inequality that has grown in our political system. Charles W. Sampson Sydney Forks

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