Canadian Politics in Crisis

For many Canadians this year’s election process has been highly disappointing. We have listened to two televised debates. We have heard the party rhetoric. We have seen the negative ad campaigns. We are tired of the party and people bashing. If anyone brings up the word coalition again, I might just turn the TV off.

Let’s face it: most civilized organizations operate with some form of coalition. Every family has a leader, but that leader has to learn to work in co-operation with other family members to get anything done. Organizations have CEOs, but everyone has to serve a united vision of efficiency and profit making, or the company ceases to exist.

I know that Canadian political culture is unique. It is a hybrid of North American and European politics. We have separatist parties (the Bloc Quebecois), decentralist parties (the Tories), and centralist parties (the Liberals), and we have their mutual commitment to partisan politics. Members of those parties, to be nominated, must adhere to the party line.

Personally, I believe that partisanship undermines the good genetics of putting conscientious thinkers into government, but according to our political process, an elected government can be defeated if everyone voted according to conscience.

Is Canada broken?

I remember hearing the story of a child staring at all the bubble gum in a broken down bubble gum machine. He had put the money his mother had given him into the coin slot, turned the knob, but hadn’t been able to get the bubble gum to fall into the tray. He could see the many coloured gumballs but he couldn’t get them. His mother’s explanation for the trouble was insightful: “Son, something has gone wrong on the inside. The sign says, ‘Out of order.’”

Maybe it is just me, but perhaps there are others that can identify with my angst. I deeply love my country, and have a great desire to see it take its rightful place of influence among the nations and enter into its destiny. It is filled with every kind of goodness, and everyone can see it. But, I sincerely believe that something is broken on the inside, and unless what is broken is fixed, we may never taste what we see. Something is out of order.

Does it bother anyone else that more air time was spent haggling about finding a time that did not conflict with the NHL play-off schedule than was spent on the debate itself? I have watched hockey from my earliest recollection of childhood. Hockey Night in Canada was a family event, and was accompanied with Mom’s homemade burgers and fries. I have many shared memories connected to some of the greatest hockey moments in Canadian history.

But, as much as I like hockey – “Go, Canucks, Go” – it was embarrassing to realize that each candidate believed that if their debate was televised during a play-off game it would cut so deeply into the numbers who would watch that the times had to be changed. I don’t know what was more upsetting: the fact that political debate had fallen to such a low level of national esteem, or the fact that Canadians have such a skewed sense of what is important.

Political change

The United States has just experienced one of the greatest mid-term political shifts in their history. Republicans took control of the House, gained three Senate seats – which had the affect of grid locking the legislative process, and made huge gains in governorships and municipal government.

Just two short years ago, Barak Obama swept into office with a strong mandate to bring change. Remember his motto, “Change We Can believe In?” Then, in a process of political shifts, it became, “Change We Need.” Not to be outdone, John McCain and Sarah Palin, the Republican ticket, jumped on the change bandwagon as well. They kept reminding the electorate that, “We’re for change too!”

Well, change has occurred, and I suppose the only thing constant about change is change itself. Jawaharlal Nehru stated, “The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down.” I guess the real question is, “Does anything really change?”

Ellen Glascow’s comment is intriguing when applied to political realities. She said, “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” That’s true. Just because everything is different doesn’t mean that anything has changed. There may be different people in office but will the culminating affect be change that people can believe in and live with?