It is sad to report that we only read the Barrie Sun Media newspaper when it is free. Mind you reading it only takes a few minutes. It strikes us that the two pages or so of actual news of this part of Simcoe County are not worth the price of a subscription. What is even worse is the editorial page that seems to forget that there are many Liberals in this town and runs material mainly by Libertarians, Greens and Conservatives—though mostly Conservatives.
The most amusing opinion pieces are by our local Libertarian. Having first met him some five years ago, he appeared pleasant and very interested in local politics. He is a baker by trade and he probably knows more about flour than the Libertarian movement. Judging by what we have found occasionally in his column that he calls “Liberty Rules” he seems to like Conservative MP Patrick Brown, the local Liberal Mayor Jeff Lehman (who has forgotten to pay his party membership lately) and the mainly Conservative members of city council.
Frankly, this friendly columnist does not seem to have the DNA of a Libertarian. Most American Libertarians make their home in the Tea Party Movement. The best known Libertarians south of the border today are Republican Ron Paul, his son Kentucky Governor Rand Paul and former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The best known closet Libertarian in Canada is Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Most of his writing during the time he headed the National Citizens Coalition was straight forward Libertarian propaganda. It called for small government and unfettered freedom for business and the individual. Most of the problems now facing Canadians are based on Harper’s attempts to force smaller government and unfettered business on Canadians.
The local Libertarian seems to prefer to use his free space in the local Sun media paper as a sort of potpourri of semi-political social notes. This is in direct contrast to the local Greenie who lectures us on maintaining a green lifestyle. An occasional column by someone signing as MP Patrick Brown reads more like the weekly handout from the Prime Minister’s office.
Luckily Barrie has two local papers. The competition is from a local Toronto Star grocery ad wrap that gets to our door twice a week. There is no apparent excuse we can see for that publication’s editorial efforts either.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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