Monday, May 16, 2005
I am a Canadian
Well, sort of. I'm finally a permanent resident of Canada! That means I can live here, work here, whatever. I'm not a citizen, but I can become one in about three years (giving me triple nationality - English, American and Canadian). Pretty much the only thing I'm not allowed to do till then is vote.
Those who are Canadian get to vote about once a year, thanks to the incredibly shaky nature of Canadian politics (there's a minority government in power at the moment). The choice isn't that great. We have:
Liberals
Centre-left, slightly more lefty than Labour in the UK. They're the ones in power, and because they need the support of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois (see below) to stay there, plus the votes of the countless interest groups round the country, they spend most of the time giving people what they want rather than actually governing. Kind of like a parent who has no idea how to raise their kids, so just gives them everything they want to shut them up.
Conservatives
I'd be tempted to vote for these guys, except the leader (Stephen Harper) resembles a tele-evangelist. They also have no clear agenda - but then none of the other parties do, so that's no biggie. They have done the very un-PC thing of opposing gay marriage, which gives them some sort of backbone. I like that.
NDP
Known in Ontario as the 'the party which banned the word Christmas'. When Ontario had an NDP premier (PM rules the country, premiers rule the provinces), it was all 'holiday trees' and 'seasons greetings'. Most people I've spoken to have never quite forgiven them for that, and seeing as Ontario is Canada's most populated province, the party doesn't really stand a chance. Fine with me.
Bloc Quebecois
Sorry, I made a mistake in saying none of the parties have an agenda. The BQ does have an agenda - to destroy Canada as we know it (ie separate). Seeing as Quebec needs constant nappy-changing by the government just to keep unemployment stats from going off the counter, I hardly see how it could function as an independent nation. But whatever. Most non-Quebecers have a deep mistrust of the BQ - and it doesn't help that its leader looks like Eric Idle's evil twin.
Because the above parties spend most of the time bickering between themselves, it comes as no great surprise that Canadians aren't really interested in politics. But they do love Canada. Not in an arrogant 'Canada is better than everywhere else' kind of way - they're just happy to live here. The immigrants feel the same, as I found out in my roving reporter role. There's little feeling of discontent, or being hard done by, or being excluded, like I sometimes sensed in Britain. Newcomers are often poor, but then they save money and move to a nicer place, and their children go to university and get highly-paid jobs. It's simply easier to make it in Canada, and immigrants seem to feel the same as everyone else here. They know Canada is more beautiful, spacious, plentiful and friendly than most other places on the planet.
And I'd have to agree. The other day I was at my parents-in-law's house (their parents came from Italy after the war without a penny to their names). It's custom-built, has three huge bedrooms, two bathrooms, a massive garden with rocks and a waterfall, and a deck outside where you can stick chairs and tables. I was sitting on that deck watching the sun set over Lake Ontario, ruminating on the fact that this beautiful house cost the same as our crappy ex-council in Ladbroke Grove with human crap in the stairwell, and I thought 'I love this place.' I'm part of a close-knit, warm Italian-Canadian family with big hugs and great food and I feel like I belong. Just thinking about it makes me want to kiss the ground : )
Those who are Canadian get to vote about once a year, thanks to the incredibly shaky nature of Canadian politics (there's a minority government in power at the moment). The choice isn't that great. We have:
Liberals
Centre-left, slightly more lefty than Labour in the UK. They're the ones in power, and because they need the support of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois (see below) to stay there, plus the votes of the countless interest groups round the country, they spend most of the time giving people what they want rather than actually governing. Kind of like a parent who has no idea how to raise their kids, so just gives them everything they want to shut them up.
Conservatives
I'd be tempted to vote for these guys, except the leader (Stephen Harper) resembles a tele-evangelist. They also have no clear agenda - but then none of the other parties do, so that's no biggie. They have done the very un-PC thing of opposing gay marriage, which gives them some sort of backbone. I like that.
NDP
Known in Ontario as the 'the party which banned the word Christmas'. When Ontario had an NDP premier (PM rules the country, premiers rule the provinces), it was all 'holiday trees' and 'seasons greetings'. Most people I've spoken to have never quite forgiven them for that, and seeing as Ontario is Canada's most populated province, the party doesn't really stand a chance. Fine with me.
Bloc Quebecois
Sorry, I made a mistake in saying none of the parties have an agenda. The BQ does have an agenda - to destroy Canada as we know it (ie separate). Seeing as Quebec needs constant nappy-changing by the government just to keep unemployment stats from going off the counter, I hardly see how it could function as an independent nation. But whatever. Most non-Quebecers have a deep mistrust of the BQ - and it doesn't help that its leader looks like Eric Idle's evil twin.
Because the above parties spend most of the time bickering between themselves, it comes as no great surprise that Canadians aren't really interested in politics. But they do love Canada. Not in an arrogant 'Canada is better than everywhere else' kind of way - they're just happy to live here. The immigrants feel the same, as I found out in my roving reporter role. There's little feeling of discontent, or being hard done by, or being excluded, like I sometimes sensed in Britain. Newcomers are often poor, but then they save money and move to a nicer place, and their children go to university and get highly-paid jobs. It's simply easier to make it in Canada, and immigrants seem to feel the same as everyone else here. They know Canada is more beautiful, spacious, plentiful and friendly than most other places on the planet.
And I'd have to agree. The other day I was at my parents-in-law's house (their parents came from Italy after the war without a penny to their names). It's custom-built, has three huge bedrooms, two bathrooms, a massive garden with rocks and a waterfall, and a deck outside where you can stick chairs and tables. I was sitting on that deck watching the sun set over Lake Ontario, ruminating on the fact that this beautiful house cost the same as our crappy ex-council in Ladbroke Grove with human crap in the stairwell, and I thought 'I love this place.' I'm part of a close-knit, warm Italian-Canadian family with big hugs and great food and I feel like I belong. Just thinking about it makes me want to kiss the ground : )
