We borrow the land from our children

by Wing Wo

May 6, 2012

My parenting is again up to another challenge.

To start a fire, all we need is a spark. To start our children thinking, all we need is a small discussion. After our discussion about the various environmentally unfriendly policies and decisions set by our Harper Conservative government, my 10 year old son cannot stop thinking. He is asking, "After they have dug up all the oil from the oil sands and left the land polluted... What will happen to us?"

I told my son, "I don't know." After all, there will be no more clean water, no clean land, no clean air. There will be no food and no life, isn't this true? Why do we tolerate our government to digging up our forests and polluting our environment that our future generations depend on? Sometimes I wonder if the elected MPs have any children or grandchildren. I wonder if they are asked by their own children why they make such decisions. Do they tell their children that they do not care about the air, the land and the planet? That all they care about are the interests of big oil companies and the votes they can "buy" from them? That all they care about is the power and the perks they get? Never mind the future as they are serving for a term of couple years and then go home with a big pension.

"Should they be responsible for what they have done? Why should we, the future tax payers, pay for THEIR pension, with this costly mess they left us?"

Since he was a toddler I have been teaching my son to clean up after himself. He has been learning that at the daycare and at school. Responsibilty is one of the key areas of learning in Character Building in the curriculum. There is consequence for decisions we make. We have to be responsible. However, this is ruined by our elected "majority" government. They do not take any responsibility of their actions. They make a mess and they do not need to face any consequence! Our children will bear the cost, and risk health and life to manage the mess left behind. Yet, the people who reaped the profit are retired and gone. They can keep their perks and even pension, the pension that is paid by our future generations! Is this the culture we want to pass to our children?

During a visit to a Native Reserve craft shop, my son read this from a poster, "We do not inherit our land from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children." We have to return the land to our chilren. We have the responsibility to maintain it in the same condition as we found it. However, our Harper Conservative government is doing the opposite, polluting the land to the last parcel. We must stop the Harper government from further damage. We must take control of our government. Liberal, NDP, Green parties, we urge you to co-operate and work together.