Canada Day seems a perfect time to reflect a bit on what truly is important if this country is to prosper and thrive.
Much like a garden left untended, weeds will grow. Canadians need to cherish democracy and not let indifference take root.
We can talk politics all day long. Left, right, centre, populist, with the exception of communist or fascist, the key element here is that the public chooses its mood. Canadians of voting age can run for office, help candidates in need and ultimately cast a ballot.
Not everyone gets their way with a ballot, and the process can be frustrating, but … and it is a big but, we have the opportunity to cast one without fear of reprisal. That explains our passionate stance most elections that a paper ballot is the only voting method that adequately honours and respects the privacy of voters.
Over time those in charge have become more comfortable with alternative methods. Costs, timing, access to labour – all of these elements factor into the decision to go with something easier, quicker, faster, potentially cheaper. Is that progressive or is it shortchanging a fundamental right?
Like many Canadian conversations we can agree to disagree on that point and others. Up until the weaponization of social media, this was the case. We fear in recent times that citizens have been forced to take a side or join a cause. That middle ground where people can sit for a bit and figure out something for themselves is slipping away.
Activists insist on immediacy, rather than taking up that tried-and-true Canadian measure of talking their way through a problem over a coffee. Persuasive arguments are too often supplanted by screeching demands.
The engagement in divisive politics designed to drive calculated wedges between Canadians continues at a frantic pace, aided in recent years by the internet and an unpoliced social media ecosystem. Being forced to pick a side and fed messaging that bolsters that position has fragmented the country – English and French, East and West, urban and rural. Perhaps in the past it was the same but increasingly the strategy has become so overtly obvious, politicians and their parties have focused on differences rather than shoring up common interests – Canada be damned. We find that a shame.
Across this country lies a wealth of cultures sharing common foes best fought as one.
Housing, health care, education, security and meaningful employment are problems looking for solutions, but these are common threads of need whether living in PEI, on the prairies or in the far reaches of the Arctic circle.
We have traveled enough in this country to recognize the generosity of its people coast to coast and the richness of each region. Different languages, colours and customs make for a diverse collection of people. Coastal fishing communities, Indigenous settlements, farmlands, industrial towns, metropolitan cities and quaint villages are national treasures in a sense.
One of our last best chats with dad before his health declined irreparably, centred around being a senior and health care. We ended up talking about the word dignity and he ended up thanking me a dozen times for recognizing his circumstance. It is equally applicable to all Canadians – so much so that the word dignity is contained in Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Dignity. Respect. Worth.
Our parting thought this Canada Day weekend has roots in Rockwood. A chap, whose name escapes and may well have passed on by now, phoned the newspaper office with a most urgent message. Council of that day decided to put out their own circular to counteract the obvious poor press out of Guelph and Acton.
With the efficiency of a Lee-Enfield rifle, he rattled off points of contention with a public body mailing out propaganda at the taxpayer’s expense. This is how Hitler got started, he posited.
While it was a little over-stated, those sentiments were understood and respected.
It was not long ago that Premier Doug Ford started and quickly shut down his own Queen’s Park news station. All federal leaders have their own social media platforms, with varying degrees of success.
Latterly, the OPP have deployed Twitter as a form of infotainment. Missing, in all likelihood, will be any critical coverage that would reflect poorly on an organization we believe bodes watching far more than in the past. Transparency is lacking.
We are certain some politicians (upper-brass cops are like politicians too, they just carry guns) are oblivious to the necessity of a free press and the symbiotic nature of public service and free flow of information. Dare we say, some hold our efforts in contempt while waving the flag of transparency and openness.
Left unchecked, such activities become normalized. In fact, the Globe and Mail has sensed the problem reaching proportions that they published a series on the dreadful state of access to information in this country. Percolating from that observation has been proof that parliamentarians are routinely fed “limitation language,” which is bureaucratic speak for give them something, but not exactly what they want.
Our democracy is in peril when truth does not prevail.
This Canada Day let’s commit to cherish a country of dignity, diversity and opportunity. These are ideals worth fighting for.
