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A backhand dismissal of religion is a sophomoric indulgence

Faith has its “knowing” and it is not the same as the “knowing” of science, and to make science with a capital “S” the singular aperture by which we may know all of life and the world is itself a secular heresy, which we know as Scientism.

There is more than a taste of Scientism in Ms. Payette’s frequent reference to “learned debate,” an easy phrase but a perplexing concept. How would she characterize debate in the House of Commons, or any of our provincial and municipal assemblies? Probably not up to Royal Society standards, I’d guess. Are we to conflate learned with scientific, for that was plainly her thrust? Should the lesser learned, who somehow get elected, defer to those with B.Sc. degrees? Should we change the franchise? Those with Grade 11 or less, or mere Fine Arts certificates – the “unlearned” or “wrongly learned” – get half a vote?

Naturally, Ms. Payette opined on climate science, and equally naturally placed inquiry and skepticism on what is proclaimed the consensus of that but emergent discipline as denialism – thereby endorsing the ugliest rhetorical term in this entire, explosive issue, which summons the butchery and cruelty of History’s greatest crime as a spurious backdrop to debate on an unresolved public issue. We have a right to expect better from Her Majesty’s representative.

Should the lesser learned defer to those with B.Sc. degrees?

On a lesser point, it truly is unbecoming for the Governor General, appointed by a furiously environmentalist prime minister, who has made “climate change, global warming” the central pillar of his government, to be opining with such certitude and aggressiveness on that precise issue. Policy is for the elected, not the selected. And however much she holds strong opinions on the subject as Julie Payette the individual, it is not in her brief as our Governor General to advocate her personal views under the stamp of Her Majesty’s office.

Footnote: I see the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change has applauded Ms. Payette for her endorsement of the consensus on climate change. A minister of the Crown applauding a Governor General for her thoughts on a public issue that is both contentious and current betrays a total misunderstanding of the operations of both offices. Rideau Hall is not a wing of the governing party, and vice versa.