We are already living in a nanny state where governments at all levels take great delight in forcing people to live the way they want them to live; for their own good, you understand.
As one of only three countries in the world where it is illegal to pay for most medical services (Cuba and North Korea being the other two), it is easy to justify more and more laws regarding health. Using the rationalization of keeping the costs of tax and spend governments down, governments feel justified in passing more and more legislation that takes away what little freedom Canadians have left. A couple of recent events tend to show that converting the country into a full blown nanny state will accelerate during the next year.
Recently, Wolfville Nova Scotia passed one of the toughest smoking bylaws in the country. The law that came into effect last month makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle while children under the age of 18 are present. Now several provinces are considering introducing the law that would make vehicles smoke free.
It’s only a matter of time that before this bylaw becomes the law across the country. It is hard to believe that any province, such as Ontario, that has a Minister of Health Promotion, could possibly let this one go. After all, although governments brag about educating the unwashed masses in such things as the danger of second hand smoke, the real reason that governments exist is to pass laws. The next year looks good for this law to become a reality in much of the country.
It is hard to argue that children who have little say in whether or not they are present in vehicles while someone in that vehicle is smoking is a bad law. But this is not the point. After vehicles are forced to become smoke free it will only be a matter of time before people, at least those who have children, will be prohibited from smoking in their own homes. And unlike the automobile scenario, the government will have to employ an entire force of smoke police to enforce it. Unlike situations where you have a massive amount of drugs or illegal guns in your home, it is unlikely these smoke police will need a warrant to enter the home of a suspected illegal smoker.
What could possibly be next? Eventually there will be some heavy duty domestic assaults happening in a short time span where it will be alleged that the offending spouse was drunk. This will be followed by a ban on alcohol in homes and if you think that this is absolute nonsense, it’s no sillier than the thought of banning smoking in private vehicles was a few years ago. Passing these kinds of laws to protect the populace is much like eating potato chips; you can’t pass just one.
A study has been released by the University of Alberta about the relationship between fast food restaurants and obesity. According to the authors of the study, although there are some exceptions for every new fast food restaurant per 10,000 people the obesity rate increases by 3 per cent. And we all know that obesity is becoming the next global warming-like panic scenario.
Governments, especially at the municipal level must be salivating after looking at this study. Governments have long looked for measures that they can use to prevent their constituents from chowing down on supersized meals at fast food places. Their problem has always been figuring out what to do about those who tend to overeat. It’s too drastic even for today’s meddling politicos to attempt to ban these restaurants or to mandate how much one person can eat on a visit to a fast food joint. Now, thanks to the University of Alberta research there will be moves to limit new restaurants on the grounds of protecting people from themselves. Look for applications to open new restaurants to be refused to ensure that we are all eating properly.
What is truly upsetting about how the government intrudes more and more into what used to be our private lives is not what the government does but the quiet acquiescence of the public when the government takes away more and more of their rights. Eventually something will happen that truly will outrage the public; but by then it will be too late.
