Finance Homes not War

Home Finance Homes not War

The BurdReport, from time to time, will publish guest essays. Here is one from a friend of mine – Wally Keeler.

On Feb 6, 2023, Defence Minister, Anita Anand. said; “We put on the table more than 5 billion dollars of military aid. We will stand with Ukraine in its fight for security, solidarity and sovereignty and the decision relating to peace and Ukraine’s future will come from Ukraine itself and Canada will be there all along the way.”(1)

On Feb 24, 2023, Trudeau announced more military aid, saying, “Canada … will continue to stand with Ukraine with whatever it takes for as long as it takes. Victory is the only option.“(2) Surrender is not an option. Defeat is not an option. Ceasefire is not an option. Diplomacy is not an option. Only victory has that sweet smell of napalm mornings; mission accomplished.

On March 22, 2023, Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland announced that Canada will extend a $2.4 billion loan to Ukraine this year to help prop up the embattled country’s finances. (3) So Canada has pledged to prop up Ukraine’s finances all along the way with whatever it takes for as long as it takes.

The Liberals, NDP, Conservatives, parrot the same massage. After all, the Canadian people eagerly want to do this. A Maru poll last March, 2022, revealed that more than 80 percent of respondents wish there was more they could do to support Ukraine. (4)

Wish they could do more? “For as long as it takes?” This has been translated into all the Euro languages and parroted over and over in the great halls of the West. Now say after me, “For as long as it takes.” Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

This $7.4 billion will increase for as long as it takes. Billions and billions will be added as needed, going forward, bottom line. There is no ceiling, no exit date, not even an exit plan. This is the ‘more’, that 80 percent of you generous Canadians, clamored to pay for as long as it takes.

So what’s all this for?

Regime change.

Our Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly, on March 9, 2023 said, “We’re able to see how much we’re isolating the Russian regime right now — because we need to do so economically, politically and diplomatically — and what are the impacts also on society, and how much we’re seeing potential regime change in Russia,” She said regime change is indeed the point of sanctions. (5)

Of course, this has been well thought out. They must know who will replace Putin’s regime. They wouldn’t be so reckless as to spend billions to change a regime without having a good idea of the regime to follow. Or are they really that stupid to make such a gamble, all while hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake?

Well, they are stupid. Statista polls show that in March 2023, over 80 percent of Russians approved of activities of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The popularity level was five percent higher than in September 2022, when it stood at 77 percent. (6) Meanwhile the leader of the glorious Free World continues to poll underwater, like many other leaders of the collective West.

So, what kind of bang did we get for our billions of buckets of bucks? Last fall, the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, claimed that 100,000 of Kyiv’s troops have been killed since Russia’s invasion.(7) Ukraine has lost a generation of young people. Tens of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons have been rendered homeless.

We invested $5 billion to help make this so, with a further $2.4 billion to come. Meanwhile, why are there no billions for the homeless in Canada? Why is Canada financing the destruction of homes abroad instead of building homes in Canada?(8)

Why can’t we build dorm buildings similar to student residences on university and college campuses. The student gets a room, window, bed, chair, table, toilet, shower. Best of all, they get a key and months-long continuity.

The number of homeless has been increasing in recent years. It will continue to increase for years to come. It is no longer a city problem but a town problem. If not addressed, it will soon become a very burdensome and costly health problem. People living outside are vulnerable to everything. This issue will eventually be more expensive to deal with than building a student dorm type building that can mitigate such health issues. Stop financing war!