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Geoff Russ: To defeat the radical left, Poilievre must prepare for a long war of attrition
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Geoff Russ: To defeat the radical left, Poilievre must prepare for a long war of attrition

Revival can be cleaned, rinsed, and sanitized, but fighting it is ultimately a war of attrition that requires constant vigilance.

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Pierre Poilievre launched into the culture war on Sunday with a video denouncing the attacks on Canada’s national culture that erupted under the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau. Some of them are directly attributable to this government, such as the new passports which demean and devalue Canadian heritage.

Other incidents featured in the video, such as the toppling of statues and vandalism of universities during last year’s anti-Israel riots, are not directly attributable to Trudeau. However, his government laid the groundwork for anti-Canadian ideas and did nothing to deter this radical and criminal activism.

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One of the many challenges Poilievre and the Conservative Party will face, if they form a government, will be the complete dismantling of the Liberal Party’s cultural regime.

From letting crimes like vandalism and arson go unpunished to handing out taxpayer dollars to those who despise Canada, the Liberals have tolerated radical activism without an ounce of force.

No citizen is motivated to improve their country without self-respect, and no citizen can have self-respect if they are told that their traditions and ideals are futile and outdated.

The great flaw of modern progressive liberalism is the assumption that whatever motivates radical activists must have some element of legitimacy and, therefore, they must be listened to, no matter how rabid, bloodthirsty their rhetoric and actions or criminal.

Despite the encouraging words expressed in the video released Sunday, a Conservative government will not end the “bizarre and wacky world of Justin Trudeau” with words alone. The culture war exists and continues whether people like it or not.

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Those who view the culture war as a distraction generally side with whoever wins it. When a liberal deplores the culture war and says he wishes it would end, it is only because he enjoys the status quo.

A nation is not an NGO, and this is how Canadian progressives have come to define Canada.

Saying the terms “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “multiculturalism” is a branding exercise that can be heard throughout the English-speaking world. Ask an Australian from Melbourne what these three words mean and they will give you exactly the same answer as a Canadian from Toronto.

These terms are part of a universalist and cosmopolitan language that has no room for patriotism or respect for a distinct national identity.

It is on this basis that we renamed Yonge-Dundas Square, Fort CalgaryAnd Langevin block. They were replaced respectively by Sankofa Square, the “Confluence” and the Office of the Prime Minister and the Privy Council.

Color and style are supplanted by a kind of cultural tableware, where all ingrained distinctions are erased for fear of offending.

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If it wins the next election, a Conservative government can impose a moratorium on the renaming of federal and Crown properties, but to do so and simply declare victory would be a terrible mistake. This course of action only freezes the status quo, leaving it ready for future governments to thaw.

The culture war is constant and the forces that attempt to erode our cultural heritage are like mold. It can be scrubbed, rinsed and disinfected, but fighting it is ultimately a war of attrition that requires constant vigilance.

A war effort requires picking up the sword of federal government power and slashing and slashing the left-wing ideologies that are degenerating Canada.

This is not a question of outright chauvinism but of civilizational life and death.

China, Russia, Turkey and others have demonstrated that democracy is not something that waits to be implemented in every country. Democracy is cultural and culture is interconnected.

If institutions begin to delegitimize Canadian historical, political and cultural traditions simply because they originated in the British Empire, this delegitimization will extend beyond statues and street names. If the Crown and “capitalism” are destructive colonial imports, why not also parliamentary democracy?

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Healthy, functioning parliamentary democracies are very rare outside of North America and Western Europe. Once across the East German border, political corruption and authoritarianism begin to increase and only begin to disappear at the border with Japan. The so-called “Global South” is full of dictatorships, strongmen and military coups.

A conservative government must assert itself as the leader of a democratic but distinct people, and not as the board of directors of an NGO. This is the approach favored by the Liberals, which celebrates universalism and can only erase Canadian particularities.

What does culturally conservative politics look like? First, he can sue everyone who participated in the 2020 and 2021 statue topplings.

There are hours of footage available and not everyone is wearing a mask. Half the time, the jubilant participants and witnesses vandalism has its identity publicly listed.

If participants in the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver can be arrested years after it happened, so did those who attacked public monuments. The message must be that heritage is indeed sacred and that vandalism does not go unpunished.

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Institutions such as the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) have received 16 percent of their funding from the federal government in 2023. The WAG has representatives who have thoughtful about burning art from their collection because it’s too “colonial,” which should be grounds to consider withholding its federal funding.

The only document worth burning is the ugly new Liberal passports, which have replaced images of Canadian history with scenes resembling dreary stock photos used by NGOs on their websites.

Regarding NGOs: If a non-profit or other organization applies for a federal grant, any description of Canada as “the lands we now call Canada” or “the so-called Canada” on their website or in materials constituents should be a reason. for blacklisting, ideally, without exception.

The anti-Canadian beast must be starved as much as possible. Like any good Conservative government, we hope that finances will be tight and that taxpayers’ money should be given priority to those who truly love the country.

Canada Day celebrations should be turned into real spectacles every year with federal money, with Canadians invited only to celebrate this truly great country and its proud history – not to be berated and reflect on its aspects the saddest.

All of these solutions are just small pieces of what should be an overall culturally conservative policy. They are nonetheless necessary, unless conservatives want to just talk about the culture war, not fight it.

National Post

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