National Post
Financial Post
18Nov00
p. D3

Liberals intolerant to anyone who disagrees with them

Dishonest assault shows what's wrong with Canada

DIANE FRANCIS

The smear tactics deployed by Jean Chretien, Elinor Caplan and other Liberals against Stockwell Day and the Canadian Alliance are a worrisome duplication of techniques used in Nazi Germany and elsewhere against Jews and other minorities.

 This is ironic because the Prime Minister and Mrs. Caplan would have the public believe that Mr. Day and his Alliance party are neo-Nazis, bigots and anti-Semites.

 But let us examine just who is anti-Semitic and bigoted and who is not.

 For starters, Mr. Day is the only leader to stand up against the Liberal's support in the United States for the anti-Semitic resolution that blamed all Middle East problems on Israel. The Liberal party has supported more than a dozen unfair anti-Israeli resolutions in recent months.

 Besides that, Mrs. Caplan's Canadian Alliance opponent in this election is a Jew who happens to believe in the platform of the Alliance party.

 In addition, the Alliance's caucus and roster of candidates happens to be more ethnically diverse than any other party's, including the Liberals'.

 As for bigotry, the Liberal party refused to kick out an anti-Semitic candidate in Calgary Northwest who was caught fronting a rally that featured "Death to Israel" banners.

 The dishonest assault by the Prime Minister and his slanderous storm troopers illustrates what is wrong with Canada. The problem is that there is a pathological and ruthless intolerance by the Liberals, big labour and their media toadies toward anyone or anything that disagrees with them. That is why nothing changes. That is why the same old politicians rule for decades.

 It works this way: Mr. Chretien and his inner circle stereotype critics or rivals. They view them as "enemies." Once dehumanized, anything goes. Like brownshirts in a frenzy they beat up anyone who is not part of their clique because they are considered subhuman. They slander and libel individuals and entire subcultures and regions in Canada without proof or justification and feel no remorse.

 Then there is the propaganda machine:

-       Big Lie #1 -- Anyone who wants to lower Canada’s excessive taxation levels is a filthy rich person who does not care about the poor or disadvantaged.
-       Big Lie #2 -- Anyone who wants to reform Canada's aboriginal policies or the bureaucratic, inept Department of Indian and Northern Affairs is a bigot who hates native peoples.
-       Big Lie #3 -- Anyone who wants to shrink the size of government has a secret agenda to take health care, pensions and education away from Canadians.
-       Big Lie #4 -- Anyone who criticizes Ottawa's extravagance when it comes to supporting the French language and its disdain for protecting English against the Quebec City pure laine racists is an anti-French bigot.
-       Big Lie #5 -- Anyone who questions our incompetent immigration and refugee system, which has allowed in tens of thousands of terrorists, criminals and slackers, is a white supremacist who hates minorities and immigrants.
-       Big Lie #6 -- Anyone who wants to adjust and improve health care is going to give better care to the rich at the expense of the poor in Canada.
-       Big Lie #7 -- Anyone who thinks that laws should be toughened and police given more power is a redneck.

Such propaganda is why Western Canadians, small-c conservatives and free enterprisers from coast to coast are completely disillusioned and disenfranchised. This election shows that the country is a dictatorship run by a hick lawyer from Shawinigan and his backroom bullies who even shun and punish their own, such as Paul Martin, if he dares disagree slightly.

 By the way, this election cannot be written off as merely rough-and-tumble politics. This intolerance has stood in the way of any kind of intelligent debate about policies in this country for 30 years. It makes concensus impossible. It demonizes and destroys individuals and their ideas. It has divided the nation into regional voting blocks. And it will eventually destroy Canada's chances of reform or union.

 Without question, Mr. Day has been permanently damaged and slandered even though he is not anti-Semitic, according to prominent Jews who know him well such as Run Ghitter, Tory Senator, and Calgarian Milton Bogoch.

 When Mr. Day rose to his own defence this week after Mrs. Caplan's outrageous slander, the Prime Minister merely said Mrs. Caplan was fighting for her seat and Mr. Day should not be so touchy.

 And that is what is most scary about this election. Mr. Day and the Alliance are not the dangerous people that the Liberal establishment would have Canadians believe.

 The institutionalized intolerance of the Prime Minister and his insiders is what is most dangerous in Canada.

Financial Post
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