On file after file, what we're promised is not what we end up getting

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So 2026 is beginning the way 2025 ended, with a display of ineptitude by the Canadian state so far-reaching that it becomes difficult on any given file to determine whether they aren’t doing something because they don’t want to, because they can’t or both. It’s no way to run a country.

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I stand by the rule never to ascribe to conspiracy what can be explained by incompetence. But when people you know oppose something on principle then systematically bungle it in practice, you have to ponder the balance between incapacity and disinclination.

Consider the juxtaposition on the Post front page on Jan. 9 of “Drug anarchy gutting Canada” and “‘Buyback’ pilot reaps 25 guns, Ottawa says.” Both concern public safety, but the former strongly suggests disinclination to act, the latter inability.

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