Libertarian candidate runs again, pushing for less government

Gene Balfour is once again running for the Libertarian Party for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, one of only 16 such candidates in Ontario.

Balfour moved to Fenelon Falls in 2016 from the GTA after completing a 40-year career in the Information Technology sector. He is married with two daughters.

“In 2007, I discovered then joined the Ontario Libertarian Party.  Previously, I had voted Conservative because it was my least bad ballot option but never what I wanted,” says Balfour.

He said he then grew to become a tireless advocate for less government.

“Too much government is a serious threat to our democracy and prosperity. The excessive size, cost and scope of authority commanded by political and public officials harms society in very significant ways,” he says.

The number one election issue is the rising cost of living, says Balfour, and it’s “due primarily to excessive taxation, burdensome legislations, and numerous deterrents to entrepreneurial success, private sector employment and prosperity for everyone.”

However, the rising cost of living is an international phenomenon. A new 11-country Ipsos poll just released last week shows 25 per cent of the public say they are finding it quite or very difficult to manage financially these days: ranging between two thirds of Turkish citizens (66 per cent) and 16 per cent of those in the U.S. and Germany.

In only three countries – the U.S., Australia and Canada – do more people say they expect their standard of living over the next year will rise rather than fall, according to Ipsos.

Balfour claims governments hold “a monopoly on power in society” and that this power has been “abused repeatedly.”

However, corporate power in Canada was not mentioned by the candidate. Transnational corporations have become the dominant force directing our world, according to Jeremy Lent, writing in Open Democracy.

As Lent points out, “International bodies setting global policy are infiltrated by corporate agents so successful at entrenching corporate power that even those governments that still prioritize their people’s needs can no longer make autonomous decisions without risking crippling lawsuits from the transnationals whose interests they threaten.”

Balfour believes Canadian Charter rights were ignored throughout the COVID pandemic. 

“Ford assumed prolonged and misguided emergency powers, then imposed mass lockdowns and personal restrictions that failed terribly.”

He then went into a defence of the “peacefully-protesting truckers” in Ottawa (who illegally occupied Ottawa streets and called for the removal of a democratically elected government that had been chosen just six months prior.)

“Less government is the only common sense antidote to the ills of big governments. I will continue to advocate for less government until voters take this choice seriously,” Balfour says.

He realizes “that a Libertarian government will not be formed anytime soon, but as Andrew Breitbart said ‘politics is downstream of culture,’ (and) this insight has sustained my desire to influence contemporary political culture.” 

Balfour says less government and freedom of choice are finally beginning to make sense to many more citizens than just a few years ago.

“I hope this trend will be evident in the election results on June 2.”