“If it were in my power, I would try the sunny way.” Wilfred Laurier 1895
I am betting many of you know about the fact that Canada elected a new Government this year. Justin Trudeau, the leader of the Liberal party, has been a newsmaker all over the world, Lots of people think he is “hot”.
In comparison to our old Prime minister- helmet haired, dour, and boring as snot; Stephen Harper, this is very true.
But there is a lot more than just a face, and “hotness” to talk about.
This shift has been so amazing and dramatic in many many ways. And that is what I want to focus on today.
I am not really a wholehearted supporter of the Liberals, they veer too far to the right on financial and economic issues for me. But. They are not the party of Harper.
So many of us, voted for the Liberals in a spurt of strategic voting.
And Canadians voted in droves this last time around. We had the best voter turnout since 1993. Everyone it seems, had had enough of the darkness. Voter turnout up by 270 per cent in some aboriginal communities.
It was a nasty nasty election season. The Conservative party of Canada (we shall use CPoC from here on) pulled a lot of really evil tricks.
They tried to scare us into re-electing them using fear tactics.
The sickening apex of Stephen Harper’s near-decade in power was the sad, ugly way he tried to extend it — with an 11-week election campaign defined by fear, hate, indifference, arrogance and a deeply corrosive cynicism about what Canada is and what Canadians want. Harper tried to convince us all to fear our own country, our own neighbours — to believe in a Canada where enemies lurk around every corner and behind every veil.
A poster I made for the election:
The CPoC tried to scare us out of voting for Justin Trudeau, calling him the “Hair apparent.” (JT’s father was also a PM of Canada)
This was one response to that from the Liberal party……Watch, if only for the flying moose at the end...
John Oliver had a blast with this whole election…...We loved his coverage in Canada, BTW. It was too bad he waited until the eve of the election…...
The Liberal party still has a few items they need to work on for me to get totally behind them: The TPP and Bill C-51; The secret policeman’s other bill, Just to name a couple.
In the meanwhile, many items have been returned to the Canadian people, and many items are in the works, in a VERY short time. This list actually makes me feel hope. And not some small amount of pride.
A national public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
25,000 Syrian refugees will be brought to Canada. This has started, although the ambitious timeline of Dec 31 of this year has been changed to the end of February 2016. Not too many have an issue with the slight change in plans, it makes sense for such a huge undertaking.
Tax cuts for the middle class, and tax hikes on wealthier Canadians. The date for the tax free Canada Child Benefit payments has been announced.
(This is the response from Conservative driven think tanks on that…..)
Both the C.D. Howe Institute and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives have said tax hikes on high-income earners tend to be less effective than thought because people in those positions often find ways to avoid taxes.
In other words, raising taxes will just FORCE us to be sneakier! So patriotic eh?
A BIG item on many lists: Liberals Unmuzzle Canadian Scientists, Promise They Can Now 'Speak Freely'
For the first time in nearly seven years, federal, provincial and territorial leaders will gather together Monday.
I am hoping that they also keep their promise to stop dropping bombs.
At least we seem to be moving in a more Canadian direction. Kindness and sunny ways. We shall see if this lasts. We have an approachable and much more reasonable government in place. The grown ups are in charge now.
Now is the not the time to stop sending wish lists, or to stop applying pressure to the new powers that be. We need to ensure that the to-do list, actually gets done. We will not get perfection, but at least we will recognize our country again.
"Sunny ways my friends. Sunny ways," Trudeau told enthusiastic supporters in Montreal. "This is what positive politics can do."
Indeed. I wish the same to all my American friends.