By Chris McGarry

Ask the average working Canadian about their thoughts on socialism. Some will have no opinion on the subject while others will praise the many taxpayer funded programs and services offered by both our federal and provincial governments.

It's truly unfortunate that many Canadians are blind to the fact that the ever-expanding role of government in their lives is slowly eroding most of the inalienable rights and freedoms we've had for centuries and have fought hard to preserve.

Sure, with large government come all kinds of goodies and "free" stuff, but at what cost? A multigenerational welfare state, heavy reliance on the Almighty State for our survival and the loss of personal liberties all stripped in the name of safety and the common good.

In the words of Ronald Reagan: "The government that's big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away."

And that, my friends, is what successive governments in this country have been doing for the past 40 years.

A prime example of this stripping away of freedoms is the much-maligned firearm registration and licensing scheme cooked up by Allan Rock and company back in the mid-1990s in response to the tragic Montreal Massacre, which occurred on December 6, 1989.

Under the Firearms Act, gun owners not only need a license to purchase firearms and ammunition, they also need special permission from the Almighty State just to legally possess firearms (private property) which many have owned in their own homes for generations.

In addition to violating property rights, this draconian law (which to date has not prevented one firearm death) violates our common law right to keep and bear arms for protection. And yes anti-gunners, like our American cousins Canadians too have a "right" to bear arms which originates in the Magna Carta of 1215, was carried into our British North America Act, the Bill of Rights and currently sits under Section 26 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Think you have free speech in this country? You do, depending on who you are. While Canada's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, thought and expression, the elitists over at the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission, using their own personal agendas, are now deciding what speech is and isn't politically correct or in their words: "likely to expose minorities to hatred." That's a pretty broad definition if you ask me. When it comes to child abuse, most people would agree that the state should only intervene in situations where children are being neglected or physically beaten (and yes, there is a difference between abuse and spanking).

But in Winnipeg, a small group of ideologically brainwashed social workers felt the need to play God and seized an eight-year-old girl and her brother because in their minds, what the parents were teaching these children was a form of emotional abuse.

It's a well-known fact that the parents were bona fide white supremacists and that they sent the little girl to school with a swastika drawn on her arm. While I in no way condone or support racism, the state has no business dictating to parents what they may or may not teach their children. If this case is allowed to stand, who'll be targeted next? Conservatives? Libertarians? Christians?

These three situations are proof of how the ever-growing power of the state is making Canada more authoritarian. Each time another usually unnecessary, rights-infringing law is put into place, a new bureaucracy is often formed to administer or enforce it.

And we've reached a point in this country where the bureaucracy is out of control and has almost become a self-serving entity. These highly paid government workers are just that – public servants who are hired to be our servants and not our masters.

In a libertarian society, government would be kept to a minimum and held strictly accountable to the people at all times the same way that business is accountable to consumers. In my opinion, because they often become too powerful, public sector employees should not be allowed to unionize.

The state's primary role is to provide protection and order in society and must be in charge of overseeing a country's armed forces, policing and justice system. Unelected and largely unaccountable bodies such as human rights commissions, the Canadian Firearms Centre and a host of other useless government departments have no place in a free society. While I don't believe that they should be disbanded, child welfare agencies across this country seriously need to be reigned in.

The bottom line is that Canada needs to get back to basics. With most of the mainline political parties leaning towards bigger government and more state control, the Libertarian Party of Canada stands alone as the only party dedicated to reducing the size of government and letting Canadians live their lives as they see fit provided they don't infringe on the rights of others.

Hopefully Canadians will see the light and one day elect a government dedicated to preserving our freedoms.