Fearmongering and Intolerance in Politics Pave the Way to a Divided Canada

A general view of the podium at the Liberals' election night headquarters on Sept. 20, 2021. Dave Chan/Getty Images

Commentary

Having grown up in the 1960s, the attraction of the Liberal Party of Canada was that it was a big tent party. They were the party that eliminated racism in our immigration policies, the party that championed equality, fairness in the rule of law, free speech, and tolerance (as well as their leader stating, “There is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation”—a very popular message in the decade of sexual liberation). They were the party that accepted everyone. That’s what attracted so many young people to the Liberals. In the 1960s and ’70s, if you were young, you were a Liberal.

In the current iteration of the party, any objective observer can’t help but be surprised at the rise of intolerance in the party and the vindictive nature of their criticism against anyone who doesn’t share their progressive agenda. The result of this is that in recent poll numbers, the support of young people of the Liberal Party is down to only 18 percent. I don’t ever recall the level of support for the Liberal Party among young people being so low. It may be unprecedented in the post-war decades.

As the Liberals become increasingly intolerant, they drive more and more people away from their party. How did this happen? What makes Liberals now so intolerant? In his 1945 book “The Open Society and Its Enemies” (Vol. 1, Vol. 2), Austrian-British Philosopher Karl Popper describes what he calls the Paradox of Tolerance. He had observed the likes of Neville Chamberlain attempt to appease Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party before World War II. He watched as the tolerance throughout Europe allowed for the rise of the most intolerant movement in the 20th century took over Germany, and his native country Austria. He rightly concluded that if a tolerant liberal society is tolerant of an intolerant group, then the eventual outcome will see the elimination of a tolerant moderate liberal society.

The implied rationale for the sudden rise of intolerance within the Liberal Party of Canada is that an intolerant Conservative government would eliminate the rights of disadvantaged minorities.  This idea has led the Liberals to increasingly divide up Canadians by race, age, sex (gender), and ability, into smaller and smaller factions. This has led to the adoption of intersectionality as a core modus operandi of the party, catering to an increasingly factionalized population.

It now seems that a major focus of the Liberals is to portray the Official Opposition as a party of neo-Nazis. In 2022, Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons that “Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas,” in response to a question raised by the Jewish Conservative MP, Melisa Lantsman, who simply asked if the use of the Emergencies Act was warranted (which the Federal Court recently ruled was not).

In October of 2023, Liberal MP Ken Hardie said, “If Joseph Goebbels can pick up question period down there… he will be so proud of the Conservatives.” This was in response to an ordinary point of order raised by a Conservative MP.

In looking at the questions being asked and the positions of the Conservative Party, it is impossible to consider that they are in any way aligned with the debauched philosophy of the German Nazi Party of the last century. Yet that hasn’t stopped the Liberals from making this comparison. The leader of the Liberals, in making this comparison to a completely normal and expected question, has given license for any and every Liberal in Canada to also do the same.

Social media is now replete with liberals who hourly make vindictive accusations against ordinary conservatives (or even old-fashioned liberals) that they are in fact Nazis. Somehow, they don’t consider this hate speech. To them, the ends justify the means. According to Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance, if they can use intolerance to keep the Conservatives out of power, then this hateful intolerance is justified.

What is interesting is that not only is the Liberal Party no longer tolerant, it is difficult to actually refer to it as “liberal.” To quote the eminent Canadian philosopher and political theorist, Judith Sklar, “Liberalism has only one overriding aim: to secure the political conditions that are necessary for the exercise of personal freedom. Every adult should be able to make as many effective decisions without fear or favor about as many aspects of her or his life as is compatible with the like freedom of every other adult.”

No one who has witnessed the mandates, language, invocation of the Emergencies Act, and recent criminal prosecutions of opponents, could possibly describe these actions as Liberal. Sklar added that “Acute fear has again become the most common form of social control.” Rather than encouraging (or at least accepting) debate and discussion, the current Liberals are spreading fear and intolerance as they attempt to control the media and electorate.

The Liberals would be wise to end their fearmongering as we get nearer the expected October 2025 election.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.