Freedom Flyer April 1992 Cover

Freedom Flyer 20

the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario

April 1992




Book preview...

'ONLY YOU CAN SAVE CANADA'
by William Trench

"I just had to write this book," says William Trench in his introduction to Only You Can Save Canada - Restoring Freedom and Prosperity, a book he published himself after realizing that years of complaining "didn't help one bit." Trench's outline of the tragic political course being followed by Canada's elected politicians conveys an urgent message to fellow Canadians: "Only you can save Canada. If we all leave it to others, nothing will be done."

CANADA HIS CHOICE

"Unlike the majority of people who live in Canada, I am not here by accident of birth," emphasizes Trench. "I came to Canada by choice in 1966. Looking around me today I see a very different Canada from the one I came to - a Canada of pessimistic citizens, a Canada where work and profits are penalized, where indolence is all too often rewarded, and where criminals are treated as if they're victims."

Trench's book backs up his claims with a haunting clarity that manages to capture the Canadian dilemma - along with many potential solutions to the dilemma - in only 140 pages, and in a conversational style understandable even to those who do not know a single thing about the Canadian political process - namely, the majority of Canadians.

Says Trench: "In my opinion, there is only one reason for the mess we're in. IGNORANCE. Ignorance of the laws of nature, ignorance of the laws of economics, ignorance of the lessons of history. And now, to compound the problem, ignorance of just how bad the mess is.

"Most people are aware that we have a large government deficit," points out Trench. "Many are even aware that it's around thirty billion dollars. However most people I speak to appear to think that the deficit is the amount of money that the government has spent in excess of what they've taken in from taxes - ever! They don't seem to realize that the thirty billion or so talked about each year at budget time is just the shortfall for that year."

To help the reader visualize "just how bad" things are in Canada, Trench uses simple illustrations and examples to help concretize difficult-to-comprehend concepts, like the enormousness of Canada's growing debt: "To give you an idea of how much bigger a billion is than a million," he suggests, "consider the following: one million seconds = 11.5 days,-one billion seconds = 31.5 years!"

SPEAKS HIS MIND

In addition to basic economic matters, says Trench, "I will be saying things that some people have insisted should not be said even if they are true."

Take, for example, the issue of multiculturalism: As an immigrant from South Africa, Trench speaks with experience when he says: "I, for one, am totally opposed to this whole multiculturalism idea. I left a country preoccupied with racial differences. Government programs that seek to stress and promote these differences are utterly distasteful."

Or official bilingualism: "The basic flaw in our thinking is that Canada is a country of two languages, English and French. In fact, Quebec is a province of French and the rest of Canada is a country of English, and the two should be recognized as such."

Or justice and the law: "I can hear the objections now. 'Our system's fine. Oh, there may be a few things here or there that need to be corrected, but basically it's fine. Anyone who disagrees is an alarmist.' No, there are not just a few things that have to be corrected. Our system is not fine. It is based on a fundamental error. Instead of constructing our society on the rock of common justice, we are slapping it together on the sand of expediency. We are getting further and further away from the common sense of common law, and more and more under the control of arbitrary legislation and legal decisions by unelected judges."

Or on freedom itself: "No one can take away our freedom. We can, however, give it up, and most of us do. In spite of everything the politicians proclaim, your freedom is the last thing on earth they want you to have. Because your freedom will mean the end of their cushy jobs with the high salaries and the cheap cafeterias and the indexed pensions and the tax-free expense accounts."

HOW YOU CAN SAVE CANADA

Trench's book concludes with an explicit list of 19 possible avenues of action that the reader might follow, including supporting various political and lobby organizations which he lists at the back of the book, "This may, in fact, be one of the most difficult things for the reader to do," comments Trench. "Most people who work hard and are self-sufficient aren't interested in joining pressure groups of any type. But if they don't add their voices to those of other concerned citizens, they will be drowned out by the rising clamour of the ever-vocal mobs who want to live at the expense of others. If you truly believe in a cause, agreement is not enough - financial support, no matter how little, is essential."

While the picture of Canada painted by Trench may at first seem to be a gloomy one, he blames no one in particular for the mess Canada is in, granting the benefit of the doubt even to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who, he says, probably acted with "the best of intentions," Our only enemy, insists Trench, is IGNORANCE, and that is a condition that can be easily corrected with KNOWLEDGE and ACTION.

Only You Can Save Canada is a most effective weapon in the fight to lift the veil of ignorance or to stir many into action. Initial reaction to the book seems to indicate that it is doing its job.

THE FUTURE IS UP TO CANADIANS EVERYWHERE

Where does Canada's future lie?

"I'm a realist," says Trench. "I know that we're not going to eliminate politicians and governments.

"The best thing Canada could do would be to live up to its promise of a strong, solvent bastion of freedom, instead of the drowning, floundering, socialist economic cripple that it is fast becoming.

"And Canada could do it, you know."

COMMENTARIES

PETER WORTHINGTON, Author, Columnist:

"It is a reflection of the sorry state of Canada today that it should need a book like this.

"William Trench has an enviable faculty for getting to the heart of an issue quickly, reasonably, clearly, and concisely, and has done a remarkable job of collecting all the aspects of this country that should concern every citizen. He seems to have a better understanding than many native-born of what Canada is, could be, and should be.

"So much of what Trench says appears obvious; unfortunately no one else seems to be saying it or to have thought the country out as clearly as he has. This may be because he seems to possess two qualities all too rare in Canada today: common sense, and the courage to say what he thinks."

ANNE HARTMANN, President, Northern Foundation:

"What a great book!"

DAVID SOMERVILLE, President, National Citizens' Coalition:

"This book is an act of good citizenship by someone who cares deeply about Canada and about freedom. Blessed with libertarian instincts, sound traditional values, and a lot of common sense, William Trench has addressed many of the challenges facing our country, supplied some of the solutions, and issued a call to arms. I hope tens of thousands of Canadians read his book and heed its call."

KENNETH MCDONALD, Author of Keeping Canada Together:

"This book is very well written, clear, concise, practical, stimulating. With many day-to-day examples, it shows how successive governments have led Canadians by the nose to their present condition of unmanageable debt and a fractious, litigious society.

"I'm urging everyone I meet to buy the book so that they, in their thousands and I hope hundreds of thousands, can be moved to save their wonderful country form that curse of the twentieth century - the professional politicians."




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