Canada faces several dire straits

Ships navigate carefully in straits, avoiding dangers on either side. Scylla and Charybdis in the Messina strait between Italy and Sicily became proverbial. Canada is facing several treacherous straits.

a. Cost of living. The majority struggle to make ends meet due to inflation. Carbon tax and high interest rates are increasing the cost of living, although they are promoted as vital for climate and economy.

b. Healthcare. In 1993, Canada had too many physicians, and governments tried to rectify that. They were so successful that we have had a shortage for several years now. Lack of family physicians spawned overcrowded emergency rooms, with agonizing wait times for suffering people. I experienced that personally.

Enrollment at medical schools fell, immigration of doctors subsided, some doctors moved to the US, and others retired sooner. Interest in family practice waned, especially in rural areas. Incentives to attract more students to medicine are needed.

c. Housing and employment. Inviting refugees from the whole world into Canada without having housing or work for them is dumb and cruel toward both newcomers and settled Canadians.

Homelessness and drug addiction are headaches for authorities. The Herald showed that homelessness has many facets: economical, social, emotional, physical, and mental. The old saying about giving a fish and learning how to fish is applicable here.

d. Low water and electricity supplies exacerbate housing and work shortages. Steps must be taken to save water and power where possible. Now is not the time to put more strain on the grid with electric vehicles, and on water supply by excessive use. Since agriculture uses over 80 percent of water in the Old Man basin, many fields may not be planted this year. Cities have to do their share too.

e. Severe weather patterns. News about devastating fires, droughts, floods, storms, and extreme temperatures has increased in recent years. Feasible steps by all are needed to reduce pollution. Inefficient and inflationary policies (like carbon tax) will not do the job.

f. Personal safety. Mass killing by shootings, stabbings, and collisions go on despite public outcry. Increased fire-arms control and policing have not eliminated this problem. In most cases, the perpetrators kill themselves, so there is no process of justice to deter copycats.

Taking away sound moral codes

(like the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule of love for God and neighbour) and replacing them with extreme violence on family television screens, surely plays a role. Seeing violence repeatedly on screen may release the brakes in some minds. There may be other factors, too, but we should not overlook the obvious.

We need governing bodies who are prepared to do more than windowdressing, to look at the core elements, and do what needs to be done.

Jacob Van Zyl of Lethbridge is a retired counsellor and the author of several faith-based books.