What’s a Liberal promise worth?

Long before Stephen Colbert coined the word truthiness and Donald Trump created the idea of fake news there was something quaintly called the truth. Truth was an idea that was irrefutable, that could function as a cornerstone of democratic principles and policies. Truth was an important way of seeing the world, separating the wheat from the chaff.

A way to move forward and to react to an ever more complicated world. It was a way to build trust. Truth brought people together. Truth was important. Which brings me to Wade MacLauchlan’s Liberal Party and their relationship with the truth.

To say they have played fast and loose with the truth on a number of occasions is common knowledge and not open to dispute-that is, if you believe in the truth. This is easy to verify by examining the political platform they ran on in 2015. So, what is a Liberal promise worth? Will Minister Robert Mitchell and Minister Richard Brown actually honour their pledge to the Three Rivers Region to: (paraphrasing) “that the government would not force amalgamation on any unwilling communities and would allow the communities time, even it takes substantially longer to reach a compromise”.

That’s what the government stated; now watch closely what they do. Do Liberals still honour their word and respect the truth? Or have they cynically forsaken that cornerstone of democracy in favour of a more arrogant and less truthful ideology? What’s a Liberal promise worth?

Richard Toms, Georgetown