The idol of Big Government
At the time this column is being written, I'm dodging garbage. No, I am not avoiding trash thrown by irate readers of "Canada Today." It is mid-summer and most of the city of Toronto is mired in a municipal strike that makes the cry "Toronto stinks" very real in the literal sense.
For Canadians who consider Toronto-hating something of a national sport, mountains of rotting garage in Toronto's parks and outdoor ice rinks is a pretty sweet image. But the disruption of a vital civic service in a mega city (and the even longer strike in the border city of Windsor, Ontario) should concern every Canadian because of what it says about our faith in Big Government.
Canadians have a fairly healthy faith in Big Government (the idea that the nanny state is there to take care of all of us from cradle to grave). Sure, many of us complain about high taxes and the occasional scandal over government spending. But in the end most Canadians expect Big Government to provide everything from nice retirement pensions to "free" health care to a social safety net.
When governments fail to deliver services, Canadians act like their faith in a divine being has been betrayed. We trust our governments to take care of us, only to find out that the idol of Big Government has clay feet.
A garbage strike hits home because of the big stink it creates, both literally and figuratively. For a place like Toronto, which markets itself as a clean and safe place to tourists around the world, mounds of trash in its green spaces and places where kids play hockey is a betrayal of faith. Basic things like trash pick-up, good roads and efficient public transit are things we place our faith in. When Big Government lets us down, it feels un-Canadian.
The problem with Canadians placing their faith in Big Government is that we're bound to be disappointed. Torontonians are now reaping what the current left-leaning municipal government has sown for years: giving in to unions that have pushed wages and benefits to levels that are simply unsustainable. But the problem isn't just at the city level.
The faith in Big Government has led to the "stimulus" mania from all governments and ensures that our kids and grandkids will pay for government bailouts of companies like GM and Chrysler.
Big Government doesn't look at the two failed automakers for what they are—poorly managed and held hostage by greedy unions. They look at them as essentially pools of votes. To let GM and Chrysler die a natural death might mean punishment from voters (unemployed/unemployable auto workers, workers from suppliers that would go belly up, voters in communities that depend on the auto trade, etc.). Thus, the federal and Ontario governments decided they will own pieces of the auto sector versions of Nortel.
I'm no advocate for either any kind of totalitarianism which seeks to concentrate power in the hands of a chosen few, or for libertarianism that seeks to banish government from our lives. Governments play important roles as regulators and arbitrators. They also deliver vital services like garbage collection. But governments are our surrogates. They do not have a divine appointment to take care of taxpayers. Nor should we citizens assume a divine right to government largesse.
My mama always taught me that responsibility starts at the soles of your feet, works its way through your limbs and then extends out to your family, friends, neighbours, co-workers and finally to your fellow citizens. That requires faith—first in me, then those closest to me, then the rest of society, including our elected officials.
It bothers me (and my mama) that Canadians have built a "gimme society." When Big Government is in reality a house of cards that topples because of greedy unions, incompetent bureaucrats or self servicing politicians, we realize that our government gods are, indeed, dead.
Toronto and Windsor will survive their mountains of garbage. In fact, many Torontonians have started to compost, store their green waste in freezers and even employ the help of friends and family who live outside Toronto in taking their trash out of the city for disposal. These are indications that, pushed too far by the failed gods of Big Government and gluttonous unions, we can still find our resourcefulness, our very dignity.
Here's hoping Canadians will evolve beyond being Big Government-worshiping wimps and take back control of their lives.
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