Petty Tyranny Dampens Loonie Windfall

Canadians are going loony shopping in the US with their newfound purchasing power stemming from the recent steep appreciation of the Canadian dollar (two yuk-yuk puns in that sentence!). Thank God, because ya know, the consumer is tapped out here in the US (consumers other than consumers who buy PCs and laptops that is). Our fine friends from the north have to be careful though. Whatever they do, no matter how many thousands of dollars they can save, they ought not to buy a car down here. The Canadian government, in its wisdom, has declared that all cars licensed to operate in Canada must have an anti-theft immobilizer, and not just any immobilizer, but a very specific one. No matter that actual Canadians don't seem to mind that their cars don't have such a device. Now I have no bloody idea why Canadians need such a device on their cars to such an extent that the government has mandated them, but I am pretty sure that Canadians are intelligent enough to assess their own risk of car theft and make appropriate provisions. Whatever the reason, I would bet a vast fortune if I had one, that it is a trifling matter, nowhere near justification for limiting Canadians freedoms to choose and confiscating their wealth, which is what this silly provision does. Just one more of the thousands of examples of petty tyrannies that C.S. Lewis recognized as the truest danger...

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. "