We Canadians see ourselves as easygoing, warmhearted, cooperative and accepting people. Those qualities are all very well when life is good, but do we have the inner strength and resilience to carry us through when the going gets tough? Unfortunately, I’m seeing a lot of evidence to the contrary. During COVID we discovered how many Canadians are willing to stick their heads in the sand, in the clouds or up their own bodily orifices rather than admit there’s a problem.
Now the climate change crisis is hitting us even harder, and people of that sort are easy targets for politicians who care about nothing but their own power. But are the rest of us doing much better?
Panel members on CBC’s At Issue this week were answering questions from their viewers about Canadian politics. It seemed like the questions were all about why politicians can’t do what seems to be the obvious thing to do. Housing crisis? Build houses. Global warming? Reduce carbon emissions. This isn’t rocket science. Why aren’t “they” doing it?
And the answer was always a version of “Canadians don’t all agree on how to accomplish these things, so politicians can’t act.”
- Government can’t act fast enough,
- Government can’t bring parties together.
- Politicking is turning every issue into a wedge that pushes people apart.
- Too much emphasis on making the grand announcement, not enough effort on getting the job done.
Who do we blame?
Nobody but ourselves. In true Canadian fashion, we lallygag our way through an election process based on a great system for choosing the best hockey team, and then tell the winners — who only represent about 35% of the voters — “Okay, now fix everything.” And when they don’t, we blame them and threated to elect some other set of idiots who tell us another set of fairytales.
NIMBY
Caring is a two-edged sword Canadians have a reputation for not caring if others want to live different lives. But do we care enough to help the people that need it?
Worse than that, Canadians don’t want to pay the piper. We’ve been living for a couple of centuries on the destruction of our environment. Now, the time comes to pay the true cost of our lack of foresight. Not to worry. We’ll just pass the pain down the economic line to the poor, who will bear the brunt as usual. As long as we have our own houses, we’ll offload the responsibility for the homeless to that nebulous entity called “the government.” Food prices have risen for a complex variety of reasons, but the politicians who should be solving the problem are too busy fighting over whose fault it is. We love our international reputation, but heaven help the government that suggests extra taxes to support our military with sufficient funding. Don’t get me started on the health care system.
And the only thing that trickles down from the ultra rich and the comfortable middle class is the misery borne by the hand-to-mouth working poor and the homeless. And our Prime Minister represents our feelings when he says, “I feel your pain.” No, he doesn’t, and neither do most other Canadians. But soon the rest of us will be (literally) feeling the heat.
The Leader of the Opposition finally said something I completely agree with. He indicated that the time is coming when a working family can’t afford to live in a house of their own. Of course, his next words blamed it all on Trudeau.
But that’s what’s swirling down the pipe at us, fueled by a torrent of crude oil and gas. Most of the population of the modern world lives in apartments. It’s a much more efficient way to house over-population.
The Real Solution
It’s time Canadians show true to our reputation. Ditch the competitiveness and go for the cooperation. Everyone knows that there’s a time in every game, in every performance, in every political situation, where the egos have to be put aside for the greater good. Sacrifices must be made.
- Throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the production of renewable energy. Anything else is foot-dragging and regressive. The new economy will replace the money lost from all the carbon-based industry we must let go of.
- Likewise, increase military spending in areas like electronics that have civilian application. Rebuild Canada’s international reputation by fulfilling our commitments to NATO, but do it with tech, not ships that burn fuel and planes made by America.
- Build housing. Make sure some of the units are affordable and many of them are for rental, but just build housing. It’s one place where trickle-down economics works. Every family that buys a new house means an apartment available for those moving up the ladder and opens up a single room down the line.
The Bottom Line
We ought to know by now that government is not going to lead. In a first-past-the-post election system, it’s just too risky. The power junkies who will do anything to win spend their time driving wedges between people, and the honest politicians are too busy defending themselves to get anything done.
The people have to lead. We have to tell our elected representatives what to do. When they try to snow us with politicking, we have to call them on it, and ask them what they will do to solve the problem. Then we have to hold them to the job until they do it.
Email your MP or MLA. Take part in civic forums. Read the newspaper, watch CBC or CTV news. Support proportional representation. But get involved.
If we continue to let politicians set the agenda, the new years to come are going to be far less than happy.