McGill TribuneEven to Canucks themselves, Canadian politics can be a vague procession of events that occur in another dimension; somewhere between an ice rink on Jupiter and a Tim Hortons at the end of the universe sits our Parliament. There, people discuss the two topics urgent to the Canadian agenda: our temperament and the weather. Being nice is essential to our self-image, and so is surviving winter. Maintaining pleasantry in 40 degrees below zero is the paramount objective of our leaders.
Assured that our government is happily plugging away in la-la land, we spend our time looking below the 49th parallel to comment—respectfully—on our neighbours’ woeful ignorance of their own state of affairs. We chuckle—politely—as the majority of them struggle to name a single Supreme Court justice or pinpoint Iraq on a map. We enjoy how their right wing satirizes itself, and find it amusing that some think they actually have a left wing. But the irony here is striking: we whole-heartedly delve into Americans’ political system and criticize their own ignorance of it while completely ignoring our own. Rarely do we look into the nitty gritty of our own political machine. And why should we? Our leaders seem to be doing fine up there, somewhere … whereever they are. Canada, relatively speaking, is doing great. Our banks rocked it during the recession, our income inequality is relatively low, our cities consistently rank among the top places in the world to live, and we continue to find really valuable stuff to sell in our massive north.
But things might not always look so rosy, and when they start to pale—or to keep them from paling—we should know who’s got the power to do what. And so to properly tackle low voter turnout (which is decreasing every year), there’s political enthusiasm to re-spark. And no, I don’t mean standing in front of Parliament holding a poster with a bad pun and yelling obscenities (though that could count as well). I mean realizing that the issues our government deals with are complicated, diverse, and—dare I say it—just as interesting as those in the U.S. of A. Sure our television shows don’t bake them into tasty partisan pastries for a partisan crowd to gobble up, either in fierce agreement (Bill O’Reilly) or raucous laughter (Jon Stewart). But they hold intrigue without this sort of decoration. Between the Canadian warship currently lingering on the Libyan shore, to the Conservatives’ push to gain support through a tough-on-crime plan that makes most social scientists shudder, you’ll find something that sparks your attention—and hopefully a reaction.
If you’re still not convinced, watch the parliamentary debates. Seriously. While U.S. congressional “debates” may suffer from C-Span Comatose Syndrome, Canuck leaders barely stop short of throwing tomatoes. As nice as we all are, it’s not all hugs and high-fives when it comes down to the big decisions. The kind you don’t want to disagree with in hindsight. We should engage in these debates now, while the decisions haven’t yet been made. It simply comes down to directly shaping the world you’re living in. That, and bringing our galaxy-abolished government back to a place where we can stare it in the face, and maybe even make it blink.
