"Bill C" <
[email protected]> wrote ...
>
> I agree with you almost completely. I don't think either party in the
> US gives a **** about corruption scandals. It really doesn't seem to
> have any real effect and they are both so dirty that if someone
> actually broke the gentlemens agreement and went after it they'd all be
> covered in dirt so they pretend to police each other and spin it like
> it was real.
> I think Canadians still expect better out of their politicians than we
> do so the scandals and incopetence get some traction that they really
> don't here.
> The other unfortunate thing, as you pointed out, is the fracturing of
> Canada, and it's looking fairly similar to the lines down here, but
> with more parties and the wildcard of the Bloc thrown in. I can see
> Alberta being the spark that really sets off the culture wars in that
> they generate so much of the federal revenue only to see it taken from
> them and spread throughout the country, largely on programs they oppose
> from both politcal and cultural viewpoints. That's not a good situation
> and as energy costs, and profits rise, they are going to be asked for
> even more. Not sure where the breaking point is on this one though.
> Canada is starting to have to face a lot of the cultural and societal
> problems and conflicts that the US has been dealing with for decades
> now. The rural/urban, traditional/progressive divide is never going
> away, until one side is totally marginalized.
> It's worse here, I think, because we have always been a little nutty
> about religion and seem to have a higher number of nutcases. That might
> just be based on a per capita percentage though I'm not sure Canada has
> even that many.
> The reality is that other than the real fringe nutjobs the Canadian
> politcal spectrum is a lot smaller and much less divided and vicious.
> Hopefully you do a better job with all these issues than we did.
> As for the Chretin I haven't decided if he's comparable to Nixon, or
> Cheney and his Haliburton buddies. That is one person I can't stand,
> and now maybe the Liberal Party will take off the blinders and start
> dealing with the damage he did just about everywhere. Gotta hand it to
> Martin for having the guts and integrity to allow Gomery to work and
> not stonewall and kill the whole thing. In other circumstances I think
> he could've been one of Canada's great statesmen.
Bill,
Jeez, dude. Where do I start? If you're seriously into Canadian trends and
values, check out Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of
Converging Values, by Michael Adams. He also wrote one for Heather and
Henry called Sex in the Snow (1998). Adams' _interpretation_ of data
betrays his Canadian nationalism, but the data itself is fun reading
nonetheless. For example, Americans are trending toward nihilism and
Canadians are trending toward fulfillment. He (correctly?) observes that
the vigour (nuttiness) of religiosity in the States is directly linked to
the separation of church and state in the United States of America, versus
the (essentially) state religion of Canada, which (c.f. Europe) correlates
with utterly dead religious vitality. Swedish national church anyone?
Canada does not follow the States, in much of anything, except maybe WADA
scrutiny. Rather, Canada leads the States, especially, e.g., in
postmodernism. I'd venture to say the Canadians don't sweat scandals such
as Paul Martin's sponsorship scandal -- one could argue it didn't even cost
him the election. In the end, he dithered. But Clinton gets impeached for
lying about accepting a BJ. From this American transplant's point of view
(and that from smoked out, hippy BC perspective), the "fracturing" of Canada
bears little resemblance to anything the US (may it live forever) and its
two party system have to offer. Alberta is fat and happy. It's basically
Texas, minus Lance -- and Simon Cowell. The Quebecois will be the catalyst
for any culture wars. Any urban/rural trends basically reflect North
American, rather than retro-American trends and values (note the rural
conservative trend in the last Canadian election).
To understand Canada you have to take off the American lenses through which
you view things and just open yourself to another perspective. Chrétien
isn't Nixon and Martin was a politician survivalist, not a statesman. He
blew an opportunity when he inherited a majority government and turned it
into a minority, which lost its head of state.
Now, Harper has the expected minority government lifespan of 18 months.
What US president could hope to do squat in that?
Yours for life, liberty, good order and good government,
JF
