The Cost of Division: Why Political Extremes Are Pulling Canada Apart

Canada has always been a country of balance — steady, practical, reasonable. But in recent years, that balance has been lost. We’re not just off course; we’ve let our politics be overtaken by extremes. And it’s costing us.

I’m not here to rant. I’m not here to attack. I’m here to lay out the facts. Because when you strip away the noise, the evidence is clear: we are a divided country, and while politicians argue over slogans and ideology, the fundamentals that make a nation strong are slipping away.

In 2015, Canada recorded 604 homicides. By 2022, that number had climbed to 874. That’s nearly 45% more Canadians murdered. The homicide rate went from 1.71 to 1.94 per 100,000. Gun-related violence is up nearly 30%. Yet our federal prison population has dropped sharply. Some provincial facilities are now sitting nearly empty. The justice system is out of balance.

Canada’s immigration backlog has ballooned. We had just over 16,000 asylum claims in 2015. Today, that number has exploded to over 270,000. We are bringing in over 10,000 refugee claimants per month — more than a decade ago’s yearly total. This isn’t about shutting the door. It’s about managing intake with common sense and capacity.

The housing crisis didn’t sneak up on us. In 2015, a home cost $430,000 — about $557,000 in today’s dollars. Today, it’s over $713,000. That’s an average increase of $43 every day for a decade. It’s pricing out an entire generation.

Health care, once a point of national pride, is cracking. Surgery wait times have jumped from 18 weeks to 30. Ontario alone saw deaths on medical waitlists rise from 2,200 to over 15,000. Our system is under pressure, and no one seems to be responding fast enough.

Canada’s economy, too, is stalling. Our per capita GDP has barely moved, while other nations — Poland, Korea, even the U.S. — have pulled ahead. Canadian workers now earn just 67% of the average American’s income. That gap is growing.

Debt has soared. In 2015, our national debt was about $800 billion in today’s dollars. It’s now over $1.4 trillion. That’s an extra $600 billion in just ten years — or $4.10 per person, per day. For a family of five, that’s $20.50 daily — debt they never voted for, but will be forced to carry.

And while we’re adding debt, we’re also adding bureaucracy. The federal public service has grown by 43% since 2015. But ask yourself: are services 43% better? Are they even better at all?

The military is struggling too. Recruitment has fallen so low, we’ve started accepting applicants previously disqualified for medical reasons. We were short 900 personnel in 2015. That gap is now 16,000. Nearly half of our naval and air fleets can’t even be operated due to lack of personnel.

Life expectancy has declined — a rare trend in a developed country. And our birthrate has dropped to one of the lowest on the planet. Young Canadians want to start families, but many simply can’t afford to.

These aren’t partisan talking points. They’re national warning signs. They’re the consequences of letting extreme ideologies dominate our discourse instead of data, evidence, and real-world results.

I’ve lived through the dysfunction. I served in office at the municipal and provincial levels. I’ve sat across the table from people more interested in ideological branding than public outcomes. I've been attacked, labelled, and written off for not fitting someone else’s narrative. I’ll be honest, it took a significant toll on my and my family's mental health.

If I were speaking to a panel of elected officials, this is my closing argument.

Extremist politics — left and right — have failed this country. They’ve traded competence for conflict. Principles for performance. Real governance for empty theatre.

We’ve tried ideological leadership. It’s time to return to practical leadership. We need fewer headlines and more housing. Fewer slogans and more doctors. Less noise, more action.

Canadians are not extremists. We are builders. We are workers. We are parents, business owners, and neighbours. And we’re tired of being pulled apart when everything around us is falling behind.

Let’s end the division. Let’s stop governing for Twitter and start governing for taxpayers. Let’s stop prioritizing agendas and start fixing services.

This country is still worth saving. But it won’t fix itself.

To our elected leaders, care more about results than ideology. Focus on what works. Let’s restore balance. Let’s get Canada back.