Comments by "Jack Haveman" (@JackHaveman52) on "ABS-CBN News" channel.

My dad came to Canada in 1951. He says that it was a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family...THEN. He now says that if he'd known what was going to eventually happen to this wonderful country, he'd have never have immigrated here. That's a terrible indictment of what this country has become.
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@bernardjameswilson He didn't just wake up and said "This country now sucks". This was a process that started about 30 years, or so, ago. Where, at one time, life was free and you could work and reap the rewards, more and more restrictions were placed on our lives. It became harder and harder to get good medical care, in spite of the advances in medicine. Laws and more laws became the norm. Insurance and government regulations became more and more intrusive. People expected more and more from the government and that meant more taxes and more laws. If you didn't live the change, you can't understand it. As an example. We live in a small town of 1800 people. We had 3 doctors and they were all available at any time of day. Now there's none. 7 service stations. Now there's 1. He operated a small farm and he did maintenance on his own equipment. Now it's impossible because it's all electronics and you could lose your warranty if you even tried to work on it. We had a landing at the back door, made of cement that replaced a wooden landing back in 1966. 7 years ago, his insurance company told him that he would no longer be covered if he didn't put a railing on it, so my brother and I did it. This rule was mandated by a government agency. We didn't lose our freedom to a marching army, like he saw from invading Nazis. Instead it was a slow encroachment of government controls, regulations and mandates and EVERY time it was an assault on his wallet and freedom. He's now 92 and it doesn't matter as much to him because he's at the end of his days but he's not blind, either. We're losing our freedoms, one law and regulation at a time and the slow relentless of it doesn't hit like tsunami. We're more like frogs in boiling water. I've seen it because I'm 70 years old. My daughter hasn't seen the change but she knows something is wrong. The way things are going, my grandchildren will never be able to afford their own homes. I feel so bad for their futures....even their present but the regulations keep coming, tying our hands in a tighter and tighter grip. They will never live the lives that my dad or even I've had. That freedom has slowly evaporated away. It isn't that we had it so good. It's that the good that we had is being lost and the ability to work hard that allowed to build good lives from nothing, has been taken away from those who have to live today.
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@mikiandfriends1820 No one passed on anything to those young people who worked hard and became old. They did it for themselves. My parents had NOTHING. They didn't whine because no one passed on to their generation. When you're willing to get out and work the 60 to 70 hours a week, you'll have something to make bank on, too.
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@frasertones8519 Read my comment to bernardjameswilson in this thread. It's not just about the things that you're talking about. It's about our freedom. It's slowly eroding away. If you haven't lived to see the erosion, you may not understand what I'm talking about. Freedom isn't only about affluence. It's about so much more than that.
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@maxpayne7419 Tell that to my 22 year old grandson, and others his age, who's faced with the knowledge that he may NEVER be able to buy his own home. I did it 45 years ago, when I was 24, but it's almost impossible for him and others of his generation.
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@frasertones8519 He came from the Netherlands.
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@jacobuszwanenburg1629 It was just starting at that time. Farmers were forced into marketing boards. Dad had given up milking cows about 10 years earlier because the milk marketing boards kept coming up with more and more rules and requirements that the smaller farmers just couldn't afford to do. By 1978, it was beginning to become impossible for a young person to start a dairy farm because the "milk quotas" were becoming so expensive. Dairy farms became bigger and bigger as the number of farms shrank. No innovation were allowed because the milk marketing boards had such a tight grip on the dairy industry and it became mandated by law. It was great for the millionaire farmer but for no one else.
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@madinkan Read my reply to bernadjameswilson. It'll give an introduction to what I'm talking about.
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@virginiaoflaherty2983 A bloated bureaucracy means increasing control of your life by the government and diminishing freedom for the individual. It's not that difficult to comprehend.
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@cssuntherrao I wasn't talking about migration from those 3rd world countries that's happening today. It's not what I'm talking about at all and it's not the point that I'm trying to make. I'm saying that we're allowing our government to take away our freedoms and our institutions are suffering for it. That if we allow it to go on, we won't be the promised land like we have been. 3rd world countries have their problems because their governments are corrupt and make terrible decisions. The people want to come here so they can have the freedom to make their own lives better. If we allow our own government to become corrupt, there would be no point in coming here. That's my point. Holland was very poor after the war, no better than 3rd world countries today but they had the freedom to grow, like Canada was doing. They were the lucky ones. Most 3rd world countries are in a mess because of their government and leaders are corrupt or they have very bad ideas. Don't let that happen here. It's happening very slowly...greater government intrusion into our lives. Freedom needs eternal vigilance for one simple reason. People tend to be corrupt and are prone to bad ideas wrapped up in a pretty package. The most corrupt will enter government because they like the power and they'll tear it apart with their self serving ideas. Don't let that happen. Where do we migrate to if we allow our country to degenerate into a 3rd would country? That's my point.
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@maxpayne7419 But there are degrees of freedom. It's not just 2 realities. Tyranny and and another that's the same no matter what. That's what the American Constitution is about. The freedoms the individual is granted as a consequence of existence. You can take away those freedoms, like the freedom of speech or expression, in a limited fashion but that also means that you're NOT as free as you were before those freedoms were taken away.
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@virginiaoflaherty2983 That's seems to be a common phenomena. I've never expected much and was content with what I've had in material possessions. Yet, I've been told, all my life that I had a strong work ethic. It's the same with my siblings. They've started with nothing, worked hard, done well, and their kids did the same. We didn't expect anything from our parents and we've all raised our kids in the same way and almost all of them have that same work ethic. Maybe that's the problem....maybe. So many kids are raised to expect things and when they grow up, they're still expecting them. That attitude is maybe what causes a small rot in the culture which isn't good for the country. All I've ever wanted was the freedom to make my own way. Theirs no satisfaction in being given things. Meaning comes from accomplishment and you get that from hard work.
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@leolabustro8531 Thanks. Margret Thatcher once gave a speech in which she pointed out that the richest country in the world, in natural resources, was the Soviet Union. It had everything. Rich soil, oil and gas, lumber, abundant water, gold, raw iron...it had it all. Yet, the people of the Soviet Union, had starved to death, they stood in line-ups for basic needs and it was all due to government policies. Venezuela is going through the exact same problems. They're the same policies that Trudeau is forcing on our country. THAT is what I'm talking about. Over regulation and government interference in our lives. A lot of people don't want to accept that. I appreciate you're support and your ability to understand how governments are slowly destroying the dreams of the individual in western society. Thank you for your response.
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@vmusatov Everything WASN'T easy, though. They had to work hard because they had nothing except the freedom to be able to make a plan for their future and then be able to follow up on it. It was all there for you but you had to work for it, not just the standard 40 hour week but 60 or 70 or even more. They were able to sacrifice and see the rewards before they were too old to enjoy it. That's all in the past. Ask someone to work overtime and most will refuse and they'll come up with all kinds of reasons why they can't. The entire culture has changed and our government uses it to take away our freedoms and most will gladly allow it in exchange for the promise of safety and security. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Ben Franklin Of course the Russians look back at Soviet times as the good old days. Their country has left communism and embraced Fascism, another branch of socialism which can be more brutal than what the Soviets gave them. At least the Soviets tried to provide everything for the people.....except freedom. Now, they still don't have freedom, they don't have a government that provides for them and they've been embroiled in one war after another on their own soil or in the old Soviet bloc countries. They have neither liberty OR safety and security, not like when they didn't have freedom but at least they had security or believed they had. This isn't about how good or bad the times are as it is about being free.
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@bernardjameswilson I'm not sure what you mean by that.
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@carsonchan5102 I just gave an example of the government destroying the dairy industry. My dad started his farm with nothing. The government mandated Milk Marketing Board ruined it with too many rules for the small farmer to survive. No young person, except a multimillionaire, could do what my dad did in the early fifties. The milk quota, which the amount that a farmer is allowed to produce, costs millions. Try to ship too much and you're monetarily penalised. Farmers pour their milk onto the ground to prevent that. Then they need to buy the land and equipment which is millions more. That's what killed the dairy farm dream. You can metaphorically water and fertilise that dream all you want, you will go bankrupt before you succeed. I know a young woman who is trying to start a small bakeshop. She rented a small store, did all kinds of renovations and installed the equipment needed to be a success. She's now sitting in limbo because the local and provincial government has so much red tape and she's not allowed to sell as much as a butter tart or she'd be fined and and will never get the licenses needed to start operations. She's been "watering and fertilising" until she's at the point of either drowning those metaphorical plants or scorching them with too much fertiliser. She may go under before she can even legally sell her first birthday cake. Your metaphor sounds great if you're left to do that job, but the government shackles you. The biggest hurdle is overcoming the roadblocks that the state sets in front of you.
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@thehellyousay I didn't say it was terrible. You're missing the point, COMPLETELY. My dad moved thousands of miles from home to a country that was free and growing and he was able to succeed, like ALL the immigrants did, from nothing. No money, no education, no real life skills and only his determination, hard work, willingness to learn to a country that gave him free reign to realise his dreams. He gave up his relationship's with his parents, his siblings, his friends, all he knew to seek an opportunity and he did because Canada allowed him to. Now his grandchildren and great grandchildren don't have that free reign anymore. That's the failure that he's talking about. Life is still good but the opportunities are eroding away. You can be blase about it until one day YOU will be the one that realises that maybe he was correct. But, never mind. Don't question a thing. "I'm ok, Jack" A great mantra. The same mantra that Neville Chamberlain said before the world erupted into war in 1939. If you don't acknowledge it, it's not happening.
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@fiouable Another one who sticks his head in the sand and refuses to see that there are major problems in this country. His only solution is to tell those, who want to fix the problems, to leave. Canada is drowning in debt.....but YOU don't want to hear about it. Our government wants to raise taxes significantly, which results in inflation, but YOU don't seem to mind spending more on food and essentials. Housing has more than doubled in the last 8 years, but hardly anyone's salary has, but that's okay with YOU. Leave if you don't like it...that's your solution. It took me 19 YEARS to get a family doctor. DO YOU GET THAT. 19 YEARS. When I was a kid, I could make an impromptu visit before I went to school. Now most Canadians have to wait in a clinic or emergency for hours to see someone and if it's anything serious, it's difficult to be referred to a specialist. My daughter has been waiting to see a specialist since last JUNE. Your solution. Move to Alabama. That's the most asinine response that I've ever heard. Desert your home, basically become the rat deserting the sinking ship. You're quite the problem solver.
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@andreamcgurran3577 You name the country and I'll show you their atrocities. That's humanity and humans are capable of good and evil. Sometimes good intentions end up incredibly wrong. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about what has happened over my lifetime. We're losing the freedom that we had after we fought and defeated Nazism. Your life, in the seventies, isn't diminished because of something that happened a hundred years earlier. If you use history as a criteria, no life is worth living and none of us are innocent. You'll find horrific abuse in all of human history. It's our heritage. It's YOUR heritage whether you like it or not.
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@maxpayne7419 It's not just that we're losing freedom. It's the road that we're on. A frog in boiling water doesn't know he's being cooked until it's too late. You either get it or you don't.
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@maxpayne7419 Seat belts and helmets.....you're just being a jerk, now. This is now a country that, if you use the wrong pronouns, you could find yourself in big trouble. They make it up and YOU have to follow. We have the internet but now, our government, wants to control the content. Our esteemed PM, was worried that maybe the guys working on a pipeline might be too overly zealous towards young women in the small towns that they're working through. That this should be considered when deciding if such a project is worth the trauma for these young women. This isn't just in Canada. The farmers in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Ireland are now facing restrictions and land appropriations because it's said that farmers are a threat to the environment and our esteemed PM has implied that this might be a good idea. Home prices have sky rocketed and rents are insane....yet the PM wants to bring in MORE immigrants, which means home prices will keep going up, far beyond the capabilities of the young....but that's alright. You're GOT your little kingdom. Who cares about the people that have been here for generations. As far as I can see, you're just being a troll. You've not made any kind of case. All you've kept saying is that you're 55 and that everything is great. Do you know what? It is. But if you can't see that we're heading in the wrong direction, you're not seeing. When the young have no hope of owning their own home, things are wrong. If you can't see that, you are the proverbial ostrich.
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