Welcome to Hashtag Trending The Weekend Edition. I’m your host, Jim Love. I can understand that many of you might get frustrated about politics. What we see for the most part is a lot of BS.
Ask a politician a simple question. You get a lot of non answers, talking points, ways their political opponents have it wrong. Yep. That’s true. Even in Canadian politics. So what can we do? We can get involved and try to change the process. I’ve certainly done that. I worked for every political party at one point. I’ve worked for the NDP, Neil Young, not the musician, unfortunately. He was a great guy though.
And Bob Ray. I’ve worked to support the Liberals under Stéphane Dion, one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. I’ve been a writing president for a progressive conservative riding which led me to have the honour to meet Joe Clark and to understand the authentic person he is, I know what you’re thinking.
What’s wrong with this guy? Can’t he take a side? And the clear answer is no, I, I can’t take sides. There’s only one side and that’s what’s best for Canadians. I’ve never been a believer in party labels. I wanted to work with authentic people who wanted to make Canada a better nation and make a better future for our children.
And the need was never greater. Canada is in crisis. Our productivity numbers are plummeting. Regardless of what you get fed from government sources, we are not a leader in AI, or in digital governance, or anything else digital for that matter. But equally, the stuff that the opposition parties are feeding you?
It’s nonsense as well. The reality is, if you strip away the party lines, if you talk to the smartest people in Ottawa, you’d know the truth. We are in crisis. Our future standard of living is in real jeopardy, and yet, We are an incredibly resilient people. We have so much going for us in multiculturalism, in diversity, in intelligence, and in many other areas that if we could just get it together, we could fulfill that quote of Wilfrid Laurier.
The 21st century belongs to Canada. So what do we do? Fortunately, we have a structure in our government where parties don’t really have to matter. It’s called the Senate. For my American listeners, you have a Senate as well. It’s called the same thing as ours, a body of sober second thought. The difference in Canada is our senators are actually sober.
I say that in jest, but in our Senate,
and I’m not taking political sides, but credit where credit is due, our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would no longer make political appointments to the Canadian Senate. He would appoint knowledgeable people and challenge them to challenge the government’s thinking. In other words, he would make the Senate truly a body of sober second thought.
A place where nonpartisan citizens could join with only the best interest of the country at heart. A place where people who weren’t politicians could offer their experience and their expertise to the government of our nation. And there’s nobody that you will meet that embodies this more than my guest, Colin Deacon.
Senator Deacon is a serial entrepreneur and someone who knows technology and knows how to build businesses that export to the world in a digital economy. And we are lucky to have them both in the Senate and for this interview. I met Senator Deacon at the Digital Governance Council, another group of nonpartisan business and government leaders who also only have one objective to help Canada become a leader in the digital economy. I was totally impressed by him and I asked if he’d sit for an interview with us. I hope you’ll be as inspired by it as I was. . My guest today is Senator Colin Deacon.
There is a link mentioned in this article to the Digital Governance Council Check it out.
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You can find the full transcript on YouTube.
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