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Is Pierre’s son a dictator?

My Nikkel's worth

The mention of “Prime Minister Trudeau” used to have a very negative connotation in Western Canada in the 1970s and 80s, and now Pierre’s son is in control and is seeming to want to impose his beliefs on the rest of Canada.

Never mind that our PM has a following of young females and loves doing selfies (that should say something about him, don’t you think?), but he has a very nasty dictatorial streak that has been exhibited in a couple of areas.

Take the carbon tax as an example. Our premier, Brad Wall, has rightly opposed this as a bad and negative thing for our economy, but Trudeau wants it imposed anyway, not caring there is a hurting oil and gas sector here that would be hurt even deeper than it already has been by an extended downturn in the price of oil.

The province put forward a climate change policy that addresses the very issue the federal government allegedly wants to deal with, but the feds are saying that this policy is not enough, because Saskatchewan has the temerity not to impose a carbon tax.

A second very disturbing trend towards dictatorship is Trudeau’s conditions on federal grants, which affects things like providing money for summer students.

This affects non-profit organizations and groups who rely on grants for hiring summer students, among other things — but first, those applying for these federal grants, both applicants and employers, have to sign a document to attest that they support women’s reproductive rights, and the rights of gender-diverse and transgender Canadians.

This is bringing an irrelevant issue to bear into an area it doesn’t belong. I’m not saying the rights of gender-diverse and transgender Canadians aren’t important — but it has absolutely nothing to do with an organization wanting to hire a high school or university kid for a summer job.

Same with women’s reproductive rights — tell me please, in what universe does your belief in abortion have to do with getting a summer job? This is highly offensive, bringing in issues like these and making them a condition for providing federal grants. This is nothing short of dictatorial, to impose beliefs onto groups and basically blackmailing them.

It’s very much like the editorial cartoon depicts just above my column here, where people are asked to drop their principles and beliefs, or else you’re out of luck, and you won’t get any money to hire a summer student.

So am I really nuts for calling Justin a dictator? I mean, he’s not exactly Noriega or Idi Amin, but I have to say, imposing his beliefs and policies for us Canadians to follow just does not sit well with me. What do you think?