In the wake of our election, I feel probably as many do. A mild sense of ambivalence and wonder as to why we needed it. Yes, I voted but mainly because I feel it to be my civic duty to do so if I want to be able to make judgments or comments about how well or poorly politicians are doing their jobs. In all honesty though, maybe this new shuffle will push some new ideas around. Generally a staunch anti-conservative I feel less disgust when consider Erin O’Toole, he does not fill me with dread. The scary side of things is realizing that the fringe extreme right wing voters have shifted to the PPC, on the one hand we see votes move away from the Conservatives but conversely it makes you begin to see how many people subscribe to those values. Values and attitudes which we have seen hyper inflated over the last year and a half.
This puts under a microscope Canadian flaws. I believe that 2020/2021 has been an intense period of reflection and of realizations for many people – not to mention of discomfort. Many of us have had to face a series of uncomfortable and shameful truths which has left parts of our country divided. I feel this has been a long time coming, for too long Canadians have been able to bury unpleasantness under our image of the friendly bumbling Canadian who says sorry when someone else bumps into us. “Cute” as that idea is, its neither the reality nor does it do us any favours on a wider scale, especially when our true nature shows. If Canada were a person, people wouldn’t trust us as freely after these “revelations”. We cannot undo the past, and for at the moment some of what we are doing to atone for the mistakes of our ancestors is positive, but I don’t feel like its enough nor that it is genuine. I see a significant amount of lip service that is beneficial to politicians during an election, but I will not truly believe any of it until I see results.
Will our new government work together on areas which are crucial to building lasting improvements? I am waiting for the federal and provincial government’s to make actual changes, by this I mean, when can we expect to see clean, reliable water to all Canadians? How are we 20 years into the 21st century in a supposedly developed country where we have communities that still don’t have clean water? How can we continue to treat our indigenous populations so poorly while saying how “sorry” we are for decades of discrimination, incarceration and residential schools? Doesn’t feel like the government means anything they say, the cynic in me says we shouldn’t. Time will tell.
Dice 