I write this with a heavy heart, something I never, ever, would have thought I would have to put in print.

Canadians are not very smart.

How else can we describe ourselves after rewarding 10 years of the most incompetent government ever in this land by returning the Liberals to power?

I can’t take credit for putting this so succinctly. It is recycled from 2019 when Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were first re-elected. Leave it to a cop to sum up a problem, as few others can be trusted to get right to the point. Jack, a hockey buddy, walked into the dressing room and declared: “It’s official. Canadians are the stupidest people on the planet.”

It came on the heels of Trudeau’s penchant for going blackface having rocked the nation, the first of his numerous ethical scandals and when the total incompetence of his Liberal government was beginning to resonate with Canadians. Yet Canadians looked the other way — “Nothing to see here” — and set the nation on the path of another six years of destruction: of our values, our economy, our sense of national pride and, perhaps worst of all, dooming our younger generations to pay for our mistakes.

It’s not like we didn’t see it coming. Almost from day one, when many said let’s give this government a chance, the disappointment rained down. All it took was the first in a long line of smug we-know-better-than-thee pronouncements: “Because it’s 2015” to answer a question of why a gender-balanced cabinet. Chosen not because of one’s ability and know how, but because of their gender (at the time, there were only two apparently). And the hits just kept coming.

How about Trudeau’s infamous “Canada is back!” claim. Well, Stephen Harper was well-respected on the international scene, as were Paul Martin, Jean Chretien and pretty well every other prime minister before them. Trudeau? After basking in the sun of all the “right” media (Vanity Fair anyone?) worldwide, in no time he became a complete laughingstock — his Bollywood tour of India being the most egregious example of how low he and the Liberals had dragged Canada. Never mind Canada being shunned by our allies. After punching way above our weight for so many years — leading peacekeeping missions, known for our moral clarity, champions of human rights and justice — Canada now, as many have put it, gets sent to the kids table at gatherings of world leaders.

How can Catholics forget the Summer Jobs Program, which the Liberals turned into an attestation for applicants’ loyalty to the pro-choice cause? A clause in the program application asked businesses to check a box attesting their core mandate respects “Charter values” including the right to abortion. There is no such right in our Charter. And why target a Christian teen seeking some much-needed work and life experience through a job at a religious summer camp, among others?

And how about attacks on Christian churches in the wake of unverified graves filled with Indigenous children at Indian residential schools? Sad, but “understandable,” according to Trudeau.

By this point it was obvious — Canada was being ruled by little more than a high school council (with apologies to real student councils for the slight — most achieve more in one year than this government has in a decade). The cool kid rules! Now here we are in 2025, Trudeau gone barely over three months and a mere bad memory, yet Canadians have learned nothing and voted to take this same path again. 

Was it all bluster when the nation had finally said enough of the Trudeau way? We demanded change but will get it by allowing the same people to deliver that change. A decade of doing almost everything wrong and we shrug our shoulders: “Meh. Let them fix the mess they made.”

The Liberals have played Canadians for the fools they are.

Forget the economic distress the current and future government has left us with. How about its compassionate bonafides? Weren’t these Liberals so wonderful when Trudeau proclaimed our doors are open to just about everyone. Well, what is compassionate about bringing in millions of people only to condemn them to a life of poverty? Where were we going to house these people? Church basements and shelters, which are full (you can always count on the churches to step up in times of need). For those lucky to escape this, how about far off suburbs where a family can share a house or apartment with several other families. And how are these people to feed themselves? Look no further than the huge lines we see at the church food banks in neighbourhoods across the country.   

Will there be any change? Maybe. Promises have been made to curb the numbers entering our country, and the numbers of international students have been slashed. But figures after all these grand pronouncements show the tap is still on as thousands continue to enter Canada, and continue to have nowhere to live. And look who Carney appointed as an advisor to his Canada-U.S. council — Mark Wiseman, co-founder of The Century Initiative which aims to bring Canada’s population to 100 million by the end of the century. 

How compassionate is our treatment of the poor souls caught up in a life of addiction? Instead of offering help this government offers free drugs, safe-injection sites and turns a blind eye to the proliferation of tent cities full of addicts in public spaces. Have these “compassionate” solutions made a dent in a crisis? No, more people are dying than ever before. Yet again, this government will double down on solutions that just don’t work. Opening up a new injection site is fine, but a treatment program, offering real help? No way.

Still we elected them again. 

Perhaps the dumbest thing Canadians did was allow fear of Donald Trump to be the defining aspect of this election. A man who may — MAY — cause us future problems vs. the group that has — HAS — caused economic and moral devastation of a once proud nation for 10 years. Canadians, in particular our mainstream media, fell for this sleight of hand. Trump didn’t cause our problems; the Liberals and their policies did.

As for dealing with Trump, in a show of bravado and toughness Carney has vowed to fight back against the American president’s unfair tariffs by… bringing in tariffs of our own. Show me how in a time of economic uncertainty, when people are facing perhaps the toughest times they will ever see economically, adding to their cost of living is going to beat back Trump while making life more affordable.  

How about some good old-fashioned nationalism, this from a government that has done all it can in 10 years to destroy any sense of pride in the, as Trudeau put it, “world’s first post-national state.” 

The biggest shame is that it’s the votes of those who should know better the Liberals relied upon to return to power. An older generation has condemned its offspring to massive, and growing, debt they will be forced to pay. Even worse, they’ve taken away future generations’ hope.

The only hope left is that given a chance, Carney can lead us in a different direction. Such hope was misplaced in 2015. Let’s hope Carney learned.

We got what we deserve, and if things continue as they have for the past 10 years, look in the mirror.