Canadians deserve better

As if the current state of politics in Canada wasn't bad enough... In the past few weeks, two politicians — one an ancient relic and the other a poster girl for 'social justice' — have demonstrated the new low to which the stature of public service has sunk. I refer, of course, to the case of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his Airbus-for-cash deal with Karlheinz Schreiber and to the Bollywood-babe-turned-politician, Ruby Dhalla.

It's not really fair for me to take pot shots at either of them here. At best, I could offer only divisive criticism and biased conjecture; if you want that, pick up a copy of the National Post (or National 'Compost' as my friend Red Canuck has called it). In the case of Mulroney, my pangs of schadenfreude were tinged with pity. I cannot think of a worse fate for a 70-year-old man than welling up and shedding a tear at a public trial. Crocodile tears? Maybe. Let's face it, his reputation is forever sullied; the best that Canadians can hope for is that we don't get a repeat with our very own 'Canadian Idle' [sic] Ben Mulroney. As for Dhalla — that's a mystery in my mind. I'm pretty sure, given the complexity of the current global situation, Canada doesn't need the vapidity offered by a power-hungry actor turned politician. And therein lies the lesson. Or lack thereof.

In grade and then high school in the 1980s and very early 1990s, I do not remember ever receiving a proper 'civics' lesson. At best, maybe some cursory explanations about the establishment of our parliamentary system. But considering how critical these formative years are in terms of understanding personal identity and how an individual sees him/herself in relation to the country and the world, this is a grave flaw in our education system.

If we are to keep young, talented people in Canada, and give them the tools to mold this country into something other than a springboard to a career in the United States or Europe, they must know about the mechanics of citizenship: how our constitution works, what protections are offered by the charter of rights and freedoms, how the systems of power in Canada intersect. Only by making the political system more transparent — and therefore accessible — can a greater plurality of voices have a say in the way this country is governed. Over the past 15 years, with the rising balances of bank accounts, 0 per cent financing on BMWs, McMansions, and unapologetic suburban sprawl, Canadians have essentially disengaged.

Because we are a small population, a lack of engagement and understanding in the political system leaves us in a very vulnerable position. I have referred to this process as a sort-of 're-feudalization,' where those with money continue to make money and tighten their grip on power. And we know who these people are — they're the ones who preyed on 90 per cent of honest, hardworking Canadians, taking huge sums of pension money and hard-earned savings and investing in the seductively corrupt system of bogus sub-prime mortgages, bank stocks and hedge funds. They're the ones who protected their wealth through trust funds and offshore bank accounts, while lobbying cap-in-hand on Parliament Hill for taxpayer bailout money. Power and money are siblings, after all.

What better way to ensure continuity of the 'every man for himself' ethos than to support a system that keeps a majority of Canadians poorly-informed, offers up glamourous but vacant members of parliament, makes unskilled high-turnover jobs in the service industry plentiful, and fills store shelves with cheap factory foods to feed another generation of Nintendo-addled children. The shame is that our standards — individual Canadian standards — are so low. We readily build Wal-Marts on fields that were once productive, without remorse. We have no problem with governments funding massive highway projects that extend morning commutes by another 45 minutes, but make no demands for alternate transportation or higher fuel economy standards or creating greater access to clean energy.

In a democracy, one gets the government they deserve. But at some point, the spiral of stupidity must stop, voices have to be raised, and we must demand more from our public officials. Otherwise, we are squandering the true benefits of the very democracy we continue to promote as an ideal system of government.

Granted, this is how I connect the dots and, having been in diplomatic circles for some time now, I realize others will see this differently. What I have also found, however, is that the staunchest arguments against a particular position always come from those who have the most to lose.