National security priorities for the next government
June 19, 2025: In his address to a Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) panel discussion on the rise of antisemitism and ideological extremism in Canada and the West, professor Bruce Pardy of Rights Probe cited a February 2022 column on the portrayal of the peaceful trucker convoy protest as “seditionists and terrorists.” The author of that piece will come as a surprise [revealed below] and reflects a broader authoritarian shift, warns Prof. Pardy. Canada’s ruling class, he argues, is driven by “woke,” post-liberal ideology and managerial overreach, and now prioritizes reshaping society over addressing genuine threats like foreign interference, unchecked immigration, or rising extremism. Prof. Pardy frames this as a systemic collapse, where anti-Semitism surges, traditional communities are targeted, and democratic norms are sacrificed to consolidate power.
A transcript for Prof. Pardy’s portion of the discussion follows below [23:55 via the video link].
The Globe and Mail published this column in February 2022. The title: “It’s Time to End the Sedition by Enforcing the Law and Following the Money.” It says people have been terrorized for over a week. Seditionists and terrorists. Who is the author talking about? February 2022. Yes, of course, the trucker convo. No violence, no weapons, no assaults, no storming of parliament. Parking violations, peaceful protest, road hockey, dancing in the snow, unkind words about the government: seditionists and terrorists. Who is the author of this column? One, Mark Carney. Now the prime minister.
Our ruling class has lost its compass. We are here to have a policy discussion. But debates about policy assume that governments are doing their best to achieve good outcomes for their citizens, that they act in good faith, that they are rational and reasonable, that they are persuaded by evidence. It’s not so.
What does government fear? Not foreign powers infiltrating the the society, not organized crime, not rampant immigration or open borders, not hundreds of thousands of undocumented aliens in our midst. Not Islamists calling for the end of Canada. Not mobs of pro- Hamas supporters demanding death to the Jews. Not violent criminals who get bail and light sentences and early release. Not arsonists burning down churches. What does the Canadian government fear more than anything else? I think the answer is obvious. They fear Canadian citizens.
The government is woke. It is post national. It is post liberal, and it is managerial. Its enemies. among many others, include traditional Christians, but especially the Jews. Extremism and anti-semitism are rising. The culture is in doubt. We think it’s a policy mistake. The policy will be fixed if only we can make them understand. They understand the problem is not bad policy. The problem is the power that the state has acquired to manage and reform, remake society as it sees fit. And that project is well advanced. The problem or if you like, the greatest threat, the greatest threat to the liberty, security, privacy and prosperity of Canadian citizens is Canadian government.
The late great Alan Borovoy, head of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, was fond of saying that the greatest threat to our liberties is not from without, but from within. I suspect that even he did not realize how correct he would prove to be. Thank you. ~ Bruce Pardy
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