Who The Hell Are We?

I hate doing this, but every time I try and sit down to write something on a Canadian issue that I feel is pressing, The Great Distracter The Stumble has to send me to a site with a tidbit of American politics that blows my mind to high heaven. It’s like a weird, creepy, real-life pseudo-soap opera that I just can't get enough of. I shall try to be brief, the long and the short of the story is this: President, at basketball game, drinks beer, some citizens outraged. My guess is that these offended Americans also were not Obama supporters during the election, that’s fine, beauties of democracy and so forth. Here’s all I'm going to say about this: the country that twice elected a guy who publicly declared he hasn't had a drop of alcohol in almost 23 years because he seemed like the kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with is now upset because the new president quietly drank a beer at a basketball game in seats that likely cost more than I make in a week. But it’s the beer that they're upset about... Anyone?... Anyone?... Beuller?

now, onto what I really wanted to get at.

A topic of much weight on my mind for many years has been the subject of our Canadian identity. in a way its something I've wrestled with and mulled over for most of my life. I remember taking seriously the civics lessons I received in early elementary school, much to the annoyance of my teacher I'm sure. Yet it still seems to be something that is not in the forefront of our daily consciousness, its not something that we have a ready handle on, despite the best efforts of the CBC and the NFB, not that they aren't positive sources and outlets of Canadian content, its just that its hard to define yourself culturally when your the next door neighbor of a cultural, economic, and political giant like the states. quite frankly it sucks sometimes, it’s like having a party house next door, or a guy with a good stereo in the apartment down the hall. He might play good music, but sometimes it'd be nice if he'd shut up for a few hours so you can hear yourself think. But the situation such as it is we are forced to define ourselves in light of this, which often means a definition of not’s, "we are not Americans." frankly I'm tired of this, Canadian culture does exist and is flurioushing in places and it is not necessary to define ourselves against something else, but that is a subject for another day.
Perhaps because of this close cultural proximity the Canadian identity is largely seen as a political one, many people like to cite our commitment to universal health care, or diversity, or other such legislative and governing procedures, which always struck me as odd, cause allot of those things really suck. Not the ideals, more our implementation and adherence to them. In Alberta, the healthcare system that was a model for other provinces is being dismantled in favor of one super board, the Canadian government has within the past year apologized to the survivors of the abusive residential school system, which started over 150 years ago. Despite Lester Pearson’s long running minority governments, we elected a party that deemed its minority government ineffective, a minority government who had had no issues of confidence up to that point. A minority government that broke its fixed election date campaign promise. Apparently they only count if you win a majority government. The same government that, when it finally did face a confidence motion, ran crying to mommy, yammering about the other mean kids wouldn't play fair through exaggerated sobs. and in its latest endeavors is attempting to gain a seat on the UN Security Council through gross displays of international political ambition. all this stuff seems counter to this political identity we hold up for ourselves. our political system is running counter to our self-professed political identity.

how could this happen, you ask? perhaps this diagram can help explain. if you add to the British voters diagram a provincial MLA you have what is essentially the Canadian voter. the people you cast ballots for in any given election. notice who isn't on that list? your head of state, and your head of government. the two people who represent you on the international and national stages. you know whom they're accountable to. each other. the GG is appointed by the PM, and the GG intern decides who the PM is when its time to form the government post election time. when one part holds a majority of seats it is easy enough to pick the head of that party. Minority governments are not so cut and dry. This diagram demonstrates how little control we have over who leads us, over who represents us. this model does lead to a more stable economy, but the Brits have one thing we don't. A definitive head of state. Ours is technically the queen, but has really become the govern general(also here). This lack of control combined with a scattered leadership at the top likely forces down voter turn out for one, and also makes it difficult to cement our identity in and international way. in other words, it makes it hard for us to have one. It also allows for unbridled ambition for international power, which I would suggest is not Canadian at all. That makes us the kid in the front row that really wants everyone to know that they know the answer. "OOOOOO MEMEMMEMEMEMEMEME MEEEEE!!!! I KNOW!" And nobody wants to hear that kids answer.

The subject of our identity is a complex and far reaching one. I hope to come back to it here in the future.