I am happy today, humbled by your presence here today and humbled by your continued faith and hope in our country, hope in our party and hope in all the Canadian people believing in our highly held ideal that what brings us together as Canadians is more than what drives as apart. You have continued to express the belief that the answer lies with the people and the people can only form a government through the liberal party.
And so we are all congregated here today, drawn from diverse areas of our country, sharing in the same belief, that we shall be part of that ideal that sums up the spirit of the people. We have to choose to be the agents who will fulfill the mission of our generation to our nation and to our society rather than betray the cause and the people of our nation.
When I saw all of you congregated here and the sense of expectations and committed that you all manifest, my memories flashed back with nostalgia to that time when I was growing up and still full of youth and the urge to discover in this beautiful country which we are all proud to cal our own.
Back then, I was always swayed by the patriotism exhibited by our leaders back then, experiences that made me swear to uphold the same values that were espoused by our nation’s men and women who toiled for a society that would be free of any maladies, devoid of glaring inequities and yawning gaps between various societal class believing that in a happy Canada, the success of all was crucial in every undertaking.
And as I was observing those minute movements, those minute reactions, that level of commitment that urged you to join me in sharing this podium, the little signs that you carry with you like markings emblazoned in your eyes, all I can see is that commitment that I saw when I was growing up, a commitment to the faith and hope of a better nation. A commitment to the ideals of a nation that is mindful to the needs and aspirations of its people.
As we congregate here today, we must take time and reflect on the maladies that face our country today. As we are talking, statistics show that our youths do not have jobs. Unemployment is at its peak (Annual Average Unemployment Rate Canada and Provinces, 2013). As we are talking, our youngsters are being released into the mainstream society with no sense of job security and with no adequate source of livelihood (Clarke, 2012). As we are talking, our lower classes in the society are being fraught with a federal burden, a burden of taxation even with the little effort that the government has put in place of lowering our taxes (EMC News, 2013) . Yet we want to create a society that is free of inequality and free from other social maladies that have plagued our federal nation for so long.
We want to be the hope that millions in our nation who have been looking for in every sunrise and in every sunset as well as in every season be it summer or winter. We want to put into practice the ideals that I preach which are the same as the ideals that the liberal party preaches.
We want to be the wind of change blowing from the New Found Lands to Quebec, to Manitoba all the way to the British Columbia. We want to be the wind of change blowing from Ottawa, to Ontario, to Vancouver all the way to Montreal. We want to bring the future closer for we are a people’s party; resilient to our cause and steadfast to our commitments as a party as well as individuals in the journey towards the actualization of our cause.
Someone would ask. Why are you so committed to your cause of creating jobs for the youth? Why are you so determined at lowering the tax burden on our people? Don’t you think that it might be a long shot? Don’t you think that you might falter in the way and fall short of our people’s expectations? Don’t you think we should just approach these issues from the cautionary viewpoint?
But how can we not be committed to such a cause when it is the youths who are suffering from the lack of jobs as well as secure employment? How can we not be determined to lower the burden of the nation’s taxation system when it is our people who are bearing the brunt of the nation’s fiscal policy? How can we conclude it is a long shot when people are suffering from their society’s ills? Can we conclude that there is no way out of suffering? How can we fail short of our people’s expectations when the only hope they have is in a liberal party’s government? How can we falter when millions of our people are looking forward to our government to be the agent of change that they have been yearning for so long? How can we be cautionary while millions of our people are still shackled by the pains of unemployment and high taxes? Mustn’t we be the rescuers of our nation’s people?
I believe most of you are nodding in consent for it is times like these that nations such as ours that a leadership is called upon to cross the Rubicon and offer the leadership that will propel the nation into scaling the heights that our people so desire. In propelling the nation into majestic heights of our society where we care for all believing that a nation can only develop when all of us irrespective of status can be able to move in tandem as brothers and sisters.
These are the ideals that we believe in and we shall continue to uphold them in deeds as they form the core values that united us under one umbrella, the liberal party.
Several questions are probably ringing on your minds. How is the nation going to quest the thirst of our nation’s unemployed youth? How are we going to ensure that our youngsters in school and in colleges are graduating without the fear of not getting jobs? How are we going to lower taxes which it’s apparent they are boggling down our society and still be able to keep the federal government running? How are we going to cure the socio economic maladies of our nation which have been the gangrenous wound in our nation’s history? Which are these magic models that are we going to pop like those instant painkiller tablets and deliver the results that our country is eagerly waiting for? Is there any magic formula left for our country?
The answer lies in one formula, the belief that the people can deliver the seemingly insurmountable. The answer lies in the people who can only claim their representation in a government engineered and run by our party; the liberal party whose ideologies all of us subscribes and espouse.
It is these ideologies that we want to actualize so as to give our youthful population not only jobs, but decent and well paying jobs and the security assurance of those jobs. It is these ideologies that we want to put into practice to give that breathe of relief to our societal classes who have been bearing the brunt of our taxation system. It is these ideologies that we want to put into practical use to enable our seniors breathe that sigh of relief as they go on with heir daily lives without getting worried of getting their savings depleted by an ever hungry taxation, ravenously eating into sunset savings like parasites.
It is these ideologies that we so highly regard that we believe will emanate that salvation that our people so desire. It is these ideologies that we believe are fundamental in arriving at sound policies that will steer our society to scaling majestic heights. The only responsibility we have as citizens is to give these ideals and policies a lifeline, that chance of being put into practical use, that chance of being actualized and I believe we shall sum up our energies and live up to our responsibilities as the citizens of this glorious nation.
It is these ideologies that will ensure that we not only create jobs but also create an enabling environment, that socio economic environment that the society so yearns for that will ensure that government efforts in creating jobs and opening up employment opportunities will be augmented by similar, if not of a higher margin, efforts in the private sector. This is not a rocket expedition, for it is achievable.
It is these ideologies that will set pace for diversifying the sources of income of the government as well as lowering the federal expenditure so as to not only ensure that we not only net substantial incomes that will ensure that our government can run without hitches, but we will also be able to give the so much needed reprieve for our people.
It is this hope that we want to give to our people, to restore our people’s hope in their government, to give a fresh injection of the vigour that our nation so much yearns for. It is this hope that we must not only be the mouthpiece, but also be the implementers. I am ardent that we shall stand up to this defining moment in our nation’s history. And I am glad that all of you are ready to join me as we embark on this journey that will ultimately change the course of our society.
I believe and I am hopeful that all of you are ready to stand up to that moment in life when one’s commitment to our nation’s because is more greater than ever. When a nation’s calling for the patriotic self of individuals becomes the magnetic pull that will make the nation’s future generations enjoy a life of decency. That time has presented itself in the form of the liberal party, for this party has speeded the hope that we all aspired to, the hope that we can only remember with reminiscence, of past generations.
We must also put our commitment to putting back that sparkle that has been lacking in the unity of our nation for as I had earlier said what unites us a country is more than what draws us apart.
For despite the fact that we are divided into regions we are still that one country that we still fondly love to be associated with and we are so zealous in defending. We can only achieve this through the liberal party, the people’s party.
We must constitute a government that not only ensures equality for all regions, but also the ability to move together in sync and the chief strategy in achieving this is by ensuring that we bridge the divide between our regions as various scholars have been pointing out to us (Cochrane; Perrella, 2010).
I strongly hope that we shall not let down our succeeding generations. Let us be that generation that they will envy as they reflect on their country’s history, for our nation’s fate hangs in the balance. We must choose whether we will be that Daniel that will save the society and the truth or be that Judas who will be willing to sell the people for thirty pieces of silver.
References
Clarke, J. (2012). Youth Unemployment in Canada: Challenging Conventional Thinking? Presentation Professional Development Day. Toronto: University of Toronto.
Cochrane, C., Perrella, A. (2010). Regions, Regionalism, and Regional Differences in Canada: Mapping Economic Opinions. Montreal: Annual Conference of the Canadian Political Science Association.
EMC News. (2013). Canadian Taxpayers Federation Releases Tax Changes for 2013.
Statistics Canada. (2013). Annual Average Unemployment Rate Canada and Provinces.
