To the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney:
Congratulations on crossing the threshold to a majority government. I am writing to you as a person with disabilities and a person of faith, to urge you to make the most of this opportunity.
Many marginalized and vulnerable communities of which I am a part have been disappointed in you since you took over from the former PM, Justin Trudeau. We had hoped, given statements you made in the past and the socioeconomic challenges we are all facing in the present, that you would move forward on a Universal Basic Income for all Canadians. That you would properly invest in public services. That you would back up words of support with fiscal and social supports.
Instead, funding to public services has been cut; pipelines that violate our Treaty promises and bring harm to the Indigenous Peoples have been pushed forward; defense spending has increased. These are extraordinary times and we are facing many crises. However, I and many others in the Millennial and Gen Z population, have been facing crises since we can remember. The crises we face are not new; they have simply been steadily worsening over the past 30 years.
Your actions thus far, despite your speech at the Davos forum, have been maintaining the status quo. You have responded to the crises facing us by decreasing our reliance on the USA which is good; but your other domestic responses have been the usual methods of cutting government support of the most vulnerable when they need it the most to increase spending on systems, structures and programs which primarily protect the powerful and comfortable. Your failure to adequately condemn the foreign and domestic policies of Israel and the USA have also been disappointing as they betray a failure to truly move beyond the paradigm you stated was dead during your Davos speech.
I do not know all your reasons for your policy decisions thus far. I can imagine, however, that any more radical changes would be difficult to enact with a minority government. You have now been gifted a majority government and have the opportunity to truly make a difference with little risk to your current position.
So, I urge you to use the opportunity you have been given, while you have the power to do so, to contribute to the flourishing of the most vulnerable and marginalized Canadians. Two concrete policies which I urge you to enact immediately are:
- Insitutiting proportional representation for all future federal elections
- Instituting a Universal Basic Income for all Canadians
Proportional representation is a way to make true change in our democracy by empowering the voices of the most vulnerable and marginalized. I understand that this one is incredibly difficult given the constitutional requirements likely needed. However, strong movement on this front is within your capabilities and that itself sends a message.
A Universal Basic Income is an absolute necessity and all research points to it being one of few ways to bring flourishing to struggling Canadians under our current socioecomic system built on constant growth. I understand all too well that social services are responsibility of the provinces; however, provinces are not meeting the needs of their citizens and people are struggling now in provinces where elections needed to change the approach are years in the future. Many UBI proposals are tied to the tax system overseen by the Canada Revenue Agency; instituting a Universal Basic Income through the tax system is within your sphere of influence and would protect many of the most vulnerable and marginalized Canadians at great benefit to the entire nation.
Prime Minister, you stand at a crossroads now. One path is to maintain the approach you have taken thus far. This path leads to increased voter apathy, the loss of any support among the most vulnerable and marginalized of Canadians, and the blood of those you have failed to protect from policies built on socioeconomic extraction on your hands. The other path, that tries some new things, is more risky, likely to be met with challenges and obstacles. This path will change the Canadian political landscape for good or ill.
The path of the status quo will not solve the crises we face; the path that tries new things may not solve these crises but it has the virtue of choosing hope over fear, compassion over apathy. The window for the choice between the two paths being within your control is vanishingly small. Your predecessor faced the same choice and lost his chance to make a difference; you have that chance now-make the right one.
Regards and blessings,
Devin Hogg (he/him)
Taijiquan practitioner, writer, digital comms professional, M.Ts.
Guelph, ON, Canada
N1G 4J9
The Dreamers' Corner 