Independent MP Derek Sloan and independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillier are the only two politicians I’m aware of who dare defend the right of Canadians to worship God during COVID.

So where are the rest of the politicians defending the fundamental religious freedoms of Canadians?

This question immediately brings to mind that famous scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when the teacher takes attendance.

“Bueller?”

“Bueller?”

“Bueller?”

 

Political Cowardice

We’ve come to expect rights to be trampled by the Liberal Party of Canada and its current leader, Justin Trudeau.

Under Trudeau’s ‘leadership’ we will soon be required seek government approval to post a comment online or share a video on YouTube, so the stone silence from the Liberal Party on our fundamental freedoms is hardly surprising.

It’s not ‘the party of the Charter’ any longer.

But what about those who we expect to defend our fundamental freedoms?

Erin O’Toole and the Conservative Party of Canada, like Ferris Bueller from that famous classroom, are absent. In fact, the silence from this self-proclaimed ‘true blue conservative’ is utterly deafening, as is the silence of his entire caucus.

Even normally vocal MPs from Alberta scurry away at the mere mention of Edmonton’s Grace Life Church and the RCMP-guarded fence now surrounding the building.

While Pastor James Coates sat in a solitary confinement cell inside Edmonton Remand Centre, Erin Coates, his wife, stood outside and answered questions from people, such as “How can we help your husband?”

Her answer was as simple as it was brilliant.

“Open your churches. Open your churches.”

It’s important to note Pastor Coates sat in prison for defying an edict for which jail time is NOT an option for punishment.

And while this atrocity condemned around the world – imprisoning pastors for preaching – was permitted to happen right here in Canada and not a single Alberta politician uttered a word against it.

“Bueller?”

“Bueller?”

“Bueller?”

My disgust and contempt for the politicians who are supposed to defend our rights is only outdone by my disgust and contempt for the pastors, preachers and priests who, at the first sign of COVID, shuttered their doors faster than you can say ‘Yes, Master.”

Only a handful of Canada’s 21, 906 churches remain open today. The rest are shuttered or streaming their services online – not exactly upholding basic Christian Doctrine: The Church of God is commanded by God to worship God on the Day of God in the House of God.

In fact, in late February I could only find news articles about 22 churches defying government closure orders across Canada.

Twenty-two churches.

That is appalling, yet when only 1/10th of 1% of all church leaders in Canada have the courage to obey God instead of bowing before Man, is it any wonder the political class utterly abandoned people of faith?

It shouldn’t surprise anyone.

It should disgust everyone.

 

Fundamental freedoms

That’s how our right to freedom of conscience and religion, our right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, our right to freedom of peaceful assembly and our right to freedom of association are defined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

“Fundamental freedoms”

 

What Sparked Today’s Diatribe?

The crackdown of Ontario police on and The Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario, on April 26, 2021.

Pastor Henry Hildebrandt and The Church of God now faces a $10 million maximum fine if convicted for the ‘crime’ of hosting their regular Sunday worship service on April 25th.

MP Derek Sloan and MPP Randy Hillier could face fines of up to $100,000 for attending Sunday’s service in Aylmer.

And stone silence from every other politician in Canada.

Stone silence.

If you believe the Conservative Party under Erin O’Toole may yet find its backbone and its voice to defend these individuals and their right to worship God on the day of God in the house of God, you are very, oh so very wrong.

 

Booted from the Conservative Party

In March, the Conservative Party tore up the memberships of both Pastor Henry Hildebrandt and his son, Herbert Hildebrandt.

This is the act of gutless cowards, not the act of courageous defenders of religious liberty in Canada.

“I’m sure that it’s since we’ve been involved with many of the anti-lockdown activities, been very vocal on religious freedoms and how the charter is being demolished right now with these emergency orders and edicts that … seemingly have no expiry date anymore,” said Hebert Hildebrandt.”

Actual conservatives are no longer welcome in Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party, that much is clear.

But what other choice is there?

Is the conservative movement in Canada now relegated to Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada and the federal Maverick Party in Alberta?

Must we suffer under Liberal Rule for another two decades before the conservative movement can rebuild under actual conservative principles?

A month ago I would have said, “Perhaps.”

Today my answer is, “Probably.”

At a minimum, the Conservative Party’s cowardice and the cowardice of its elected Members of Parliament will make the next federal election very interesting, given that support for Erin O’Toole and the CPC continues to freefall in pretty much every demographic.

Picture Rod Serling on your black and white television screen.

“You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twillight Zone!”

Six months ago the notion that Bernier’s PPC and Maverick Party would elect their first MPs to the House of Commons in the same federal election would be called exactly that – something from an episode of The Twillight Zone.

Today, it’s a very real possibility.