Canadians are paying the price for their leaders’ political cowardice
As Canadians listen to campaign promises flooding the airwaves, it’s hard not to notice a disturbing trend. The usual pledges are made: tax cuts here, spending there, talk of affordability and climate action. Yet beneath the noise, vital conversations are being willfully ignored. Critical issues, some quietly festering, others looming like storm clouds, are absent from our political debates. And that neglect is dangerous.
These aren’t minor oversights. These are serious failures of leadership that will shape Canada’s future far more than any short-term promise.
Canada’s economy is stalling
For over a decade, per capita income in Canada has flatlined. U.S. workers now earn an average of $20,000 more per year, while Canadian wages remain about eight per cent lower. Investment in our once world-class energy sector has collapsed by more than two-thirds since 2014.
The Conservatives offer tax cuts and deregulation. The Liberals pitch clean energy subsidies. But none confront the hard truth: vague gestures won’t reverse a decade of economic stagnation.
Without bold action, Canadians will continue to fall behind.
Canada’s debt bomb is ticking
Our national debt has soared past $1.2 trillion. This year alone, taxpayers will pay a staggering $53.7 billion just to cover interest—more than we spend on health transfers to the provinces.
Pierre Poilievre promises balanced budgets. The Liberals talk about middle-class tax relief. But neither party has a credible plan to rein in this runaway spending.
Canadians deserve fiscal honesty, not political evasions.
Why are groceries still so expensive?
While food prices declined in early 2025 for the first time since 2017, Canada’s Food Price Report forecasts an increase of between three and five per cent this year. The average family of four is expected to spend more than $16,800 on groceries in 2025, an increase of up to $801 from the previous year. Families feel it every time they check out at the supermarket.
Yet no party is prepared to tackle the root causes: supply management systems and interprovincial trade barriers that drive up costs. The Bloc Québécois defends dairy cartels. The Liberals preserve the status quo. Conservatives suggest deregulation but stop short of real reform.
Canadians are paying for political cowardice at the grocery store.
Neglecting our national defence
Our military readiness tells a similar story of neglect.
Canada spends just 1.37 per cent of GDP on defence, far below NATO’s two per cent target. Plans exist to raise spending to two per cent by 2032, but global threats aren’t waiting.
As China and Russia expand their ambitions in the Arctic, Canada remains exposed. The Conservatives propose redirecting foreign aid to Arctic infrastructure, the Liberals talk about rearmament, and the NDP pushes for domestic jet manufacturing.
None offers a strategy that meets the urgency of the moment.
Health care wait times hit record highs
The average Canadian now waits a shocking 30 weeks for specialist treatment, the longest delay ever recorded.
The Conservatives promise faster licensing for foreign-trained doctors. The NDP champions universal pharmacare. The Liberals emphasize mental health. But no party proposes fundamental reform to increase efficiency.
More spending alone won’t fix a system where patients wait months just to be seen.
Aging population: a crisis in slow motion
By 2030, about 22.5 per cent of Canadians will be over 65. Our pension and eldercare systems are already under strain.
The Liberals suggest modest increases to Old Age Security. Conservatives encourage private savings. The NDP calls for expanded public pensions. But no party is addressing the looming crisis in eldercare capacity and the health-care demands of an aging population.
This is a slow-moving disaster.
Quietly expanding MAID: no debate, no safeguards
In 2023, there were 15,343 medically assisted deaths in Canada, representing 4.7 per cent of all deaths.
Eligibility is set to expand further, including those with mental illness alone. Yet politicians remain largely silent. Where is the debate about safeguards? Where are the alternatives?
Canadians deserve far more than quiet acquiescence to the normalization of death as a policy tool.
Red tape is suffocating growth
Business groups continue to warn that bureaucratic gridlock is stalling housing, energy and infrastructure projects across the country.
The Conservatives pledge to cut red tape by 25 per cent. The Liberals promise to streamline green project approvals. But neither party has offered a concrete plan to free our economy from regulatory paralysis.
Free speech under threat
Surveys have indicated that a substantial majority of Canadian university professors identify as left-leaning. This ideological imbalance fosters self-censorship and discourages open debate.
The Conservatives have vowed to defend academic freedom, but other parties remain silent.
Without a true commitment to free expression, we risk losing the foundations of democracy.
Civil society and the risk of politicization
Canada once prided itself on a neutral, fair regulatory environment. But proposals to revoke the charitable status of groups with pro-life views risk turning government policy into a weapon. If one political ideology controls access to charitable status, free association and religious expression are under threat.
No major party is confronting this risk to civic freedom.
Cybersecurity, immigration and accountability
In 2023, the federal government responded to over 2,100 cybersecurity incidents threatening critical infrastructure and national security. Meanwhile, high immigration levels are outpacing our capacity for housing, health care and transit.
The Liberal government’s controversial Green Slush fund scandal, which triggered the prorogation of Parliament in early 2025, exposed further weaknesses in government accountability and oversight.
The auditor general continues to warn of serious deficiencies in government accountability. Yet politicians prefer slogans over solutions, ignoring the real risks we face.
Taken together, these failures paint a damning picture of leaders more concerned with marketing than meaningful leadership. Campaign soundbites may win headlines, but they won’t secure Canada’s future.
Canadians must demand better. We need candidates prepared to confront the uncomfortable truths, even when the answers are complex or unpopular. The future of our country depends not just on what is promised but on what is left unsaid—and it’s up to Canadians to demand the answers.
It’s time to demand those answers.
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