January 2003 may very well go down in Canadian history as the beginning of the end of our democracy as we know it. Have I got your attention now? This isn't some reactionary rant, yours truly is deadly serious … Canadians better wake up from their collectivist, groupthink, our government-is-benevolent-coddled slumber before it's too late and state-sanctioned thinking takes hold.

Political finance reforms, the move to re-institute election gag laws and a chilling report from the privacy commissioner - which makes George Orwell's books look more and more prophetic - all point to one inescapable conclusion: Our constitutional freedoms of expression, democratic participation and privacy are under attack at every turn courtesy of the federal government.

While supporters of this week's political finance reform package - ending big ticket corporate and union donations - portray it as step towards transparency, it should be called for what it really is, a broad daylight mugging of Canadian taxpayers. And isn't it ironic that those most in favour of the government's political finance reform packages are backers of big, expansionist government? But I digress.

The fact is taxpayers already subsidize political parties and candidates through tax credits and election expense rebates. This week's plan unveiled by Mr. Chretien makes this abhorrent situation even worse. Indeed, taxpayer fattening of the bank accounts of the five major parties and others including the Communists, Yogic fliers and maybe even the Marijuana Party will jump from the current level of 59% to almost 90% with the passage of new legislation.

Under the Chretien "fleece the little guy" scheme, political parties will net $35 million in non-election years and up to $80 million in an election year based on the number of votes cast for each party in the most recent election. Talk about entrenching power and a significant funding advantage for the party in power (who just happen to be the Liberals), yikes. One national newspaper hit the nail on the head by labelling this the Incumbency Protection Act.

If Chretien and crew were (are) really serious about ending the so-called big-money influence in politics, they should have (and still can) ended tax credits for political contributions and campaign expense rebates, period. But instead, the government proposes to double the maximum contribution amount eligible for a 75% tax credit from $200 to $400. Meanwhile, a similar donation to the local United Way or cancer centre merits a paltry 16% tax credit. And the government has the nerve to call this fair and transparent?

There's a lesson here for Ottawa city council and thankfully saner heads seem to have prevailed with the recent decision to reconsider their goofy plan to provide campaign contribution rebates - courtesy of local property taxpayers - for donations.

In this sense, all politicians would do well to heed the words of American founding father Thomas Jefferson when he stated - back in 1779 - that: "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Sinful indeed … so much for political freedom.

And speaking of elections, it's bad enough that the feds want us to pay for 90% of their political campaigns, but at the same time, they're looking to deny your right to say anything during these same election campaigns. As WWE wrestler Kurt Angle would say, "oh it's true, it's true."

Earlier this month government House Leader and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Don Boudria confirmed that the feds will indeed press ahead and appeal a federal court ruling which deemed that Ottawa's election gag-law effectively banning advertising by so-called third parties (read: citizen groups, unions, chambers of commerce, the local 4-H club, etc.) was unconstitutional.

Even though the courts have consistently struck down Ottawa's gag laws on four separate occasions in the last two decades, our federal government will once again squander untold millions to try and trample on our constitutional freedom of expression. At the root of this law is the assumption that voters are stupid (a very wrong assumption to be sure) and easily swayed by advertising which begs the question: Why is political party advertising OK but not advertising from anyone else? So much for liberty.

Finally, the recent report from privacy commissioner George Radwanski has sounded more troubling bells than a New York City five-alarm fire. His 74-page annual report is more chilling than George Orwell's 1984. From the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) eternal passenger database to a national ID card to the RCMP's intrusive and expanding video surveillance efforts in communities from coast to coast, our privacy is rapidly disappearing.

As the 18th century Conservative philosopher Edmund Burke so pointedly warned us: "the true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts." Wake up Canada, it's time to fight back! We are quickly moving from citizen-controlled government to becoming a nation of government-controlled citizens. Unless we act, peace, order and good government will soon be nothing but a line in the history books.