The latest atrocity committed by this increasingly authoritarian government is Bill C-51. It amends the Canada Health Act to bring natural “medicines” under the same regulatory regime as drugs. In other words, herbs which people have used for centuries, and are available for next to no cost compared to drugs, now will be subjprect to clinical trials and government approval before they can be promoted for therapeutic purposes.

Before you think for a minute that this may be a good thing, consider that there can be no patents on such items and therefore no incentive for any company to pay for such trials. Therefore, this measure effectively denies Canadians the freedom to choose natural therapies by denying them information about such possible uses.

I am not into natural remedies. Occasionally using echenasia to ward of a cold is probably the extent of it for me. But I am into choice, freedom and reducing government intrusion. The Conservative government is into force, regulations and increasing government intrusiveness. This is all consistent with the CRTC’s recent signal of its intention to wage war against the relatively unregulated Internet.

So, this may be the final straw for me. I have said I would support the Conservatives for so long as they were moving Canada toward greater freedom and less government. I don’t believe that is true. I am fully aware that defeating the Conservatives means electing a party which is even worse (Liberal or NDP). However, it would be worse to perpetuate the hoax that the Conservatives are the defenders of freedom, liberty and individual rights while they are nothing more than political opportunists. If they believe the quest for Liberal voters is more important than holding onto the support of those who value freedom and democracy than that’s their choice. My choice, one I am still allowed to make, is to withdraw my support.

In the 1980s Brian Mulroney presided over enormous increases in government spending and taxation. The national debt ballooned as each year’s deficit was piled onto the one before it. Only when the Liberals came to power did this change.

But the Liberals deserved absolutely no credit. It simply wasn’t possible to spend any more or raise taxes any higher - the Mulroney Tories had maxed out both these options. The Liberals did what they do best. They jettisoned their usual tax and spend predisposition to steal the thunder from their only effective political opponents - the Reform Party.

The fiscal mismanagement of the Mulroney Conservatives created the need for the Reform Party whose credible threat to the Liberals then forced them to make what progress they did in cleaning up the mess.

Now, after years of balanced budgets and even some very modest tax cuts, Canadians still find themselves the most overtaxed people in the developed world. Why? Because we have another gutless Conservative government.

Now this pejorative is intended as a double-entendre denoting cowardice while also alluding to the practice that could create the fiscal freedom to indulge in tax reductions - broadly and deeply. That is, by “gutting” the many and varied wasteful government programs that simply rob the tax payer to pander to special interest groups.

The recent auditor general’s report details overspending on the fisheries, the gun registry, computer equipment and infrastructure grants and many other items. Here’s one particularly egregious example. Almost half a billion dollars was spend last year on foster homes for 8,000 Native children on reserves. That’s $56,000 per child with no accounting for how the money was used or whether the children were any better of as a result. Sounds to me like an excuse to funnel more money and/or power to Native elites. Who else determines where this money goes?

How about the 41,000 illegal immigrants who have been already ordered deported from the country but whose whereabout are unknown? Why are we spending money on a system to screen immigrants when those who fail to meet the test stay here anyway? Why not save ourselves the money and scrap the whole thing?

Because gutting wasteful programs creates political enemies and doing that takes guts. From its actions to date it looks like we have just one more gutless Conservative government.

The latest CROP poll shows support for the Conservatives in Quebec just 1 point lower than the Bloc. In terms of seats this still means the CPC and Liberals will tie at about 20 with the other 35 going to the BQ.

However, there are at least 3 things to keep in mind that make this better for the Conservatives:

1. Momentum is definitely with the Conservatives. Not over the past 2 polls - as I said, they are consistent, but overall and when looking at a longer range. Dion continues to fall.

2. The Conservatives are likely to out-campaign the Liberals and BQ during the election. Funding is part of the issue but Harper is simply a better, smarter politician than Dion.

3. The 1,700 members of the 5th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group based at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, Quebec will be coming home soon. With high spirits and very few casualties their return will effectively remove the Afghanistan issue as a problem for the Conservatives.

Quebecois, having all but rejected separatism, may be in the process of disengaging from the Bloc as well. The once “scary” Conservatives having given Quebec nation status and redirected billions of dollars to redress the fiscal imbalance might be soon rewarded with enough new Quebec MPs to form a majority government.