TORONTO – This is holy week for Judeo-Christians in Canada. For Catholic Christians Good Friday is the holiest day of the Christian calendar. Yet, it will kick off the most serious last week of contemplation for qualities in leadership that as citizens we expect will define our interests and advance them to our satisfaction.
As if by design, the only two debates (in English and in French) will take place this Wednesday and Thursday evenings. If you operate at your very best in a third language (no matter the reason – 24% of Canada’s population is in your shoes), this would be the last chance to examine the quality of leadership on offer, without third party intervention.
There has been plenty of that so far. It is to be expected in a democratic milieu. Everything and everyone are interested in our decision because everyone has an interest in the outcomes of that decision.
It is not a hockey game (or any other sport) where scores and players do not outlast the moment. Our livelihoods, quality of life and future depend on this vote.
Sadly, on average less than 70% of those eligible to vote exercise that right. By virtue of age and/or citizenship, no more than 80% of residents meet the eligibility criteria.
In some constituencies, like the four in Prince Edward Island (PEI), it may be reasonable to expect a politician to know personally every head of a household, but one could not have the same expectation in say, Caledon or King-Vaughan, in the GTA, where the population is larger than that of PEI and whose demographic mixture beyond the imagination of its “native residents” to comprehend – if it matters.
No judgement implied. In Canada, all elections are local. Political parties and “national institutions” are supposed to build the consensus that binds us to the governance structure that moves that national consensus along. It is a big task, involving $459 billion in expenditures at the federal level and a similar amount at the combined provincial level. Our federal debt (mortgage) is $ 1.25 Trillion and rising by the minute.
Two months ago, public opinion as measured by legacy media, pollsters (the “elections industry”) had us believe that the government of the day, guided by a Prime Minister so publicly reviled that he had to quit and plunge the country into an election morass complicated by the announcements of one Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump is not political figure elected or defeated by Canadian electors. The retired PM was. His exit deprived the electorate of the chance to hold him to account.
It does not serve any purpose to speculate on how the election would have evolved with him in place, by even the most sycophantic fans had begun to live in despair.
Then, suddenly (coincident with the selection of a new leader), the polls have the current government moving from minority status to strong majority placement.
It cannot be, but it is, according to the CBC, which runs the risk of losing its $1 billion annual operating grant if the Official Opposition Party were elected.
A relatively new player in the elections industry, Mainstreet Polling yesterday (Monday) said: “Not so fast, their polling now has the CPC ahead of the Libs 43% to 40%. We will see. Almost concurrently, as reported in our pages and elsewhere, a group of senior financiers and industry leaders decided in their wisdom to express their support publicly for the CPC, not the government.
Watch the debates or follow the Corriere Canadese.
