The Sad State of Canada

No, we are not talking like sad, boo hoo, don’t cry Canada! We are talking about the sad state of affairs Canada is in right now and maybe a few suggestions on what we, as Canadians, can do to improve the state of this country. Right now of course the Olympic games are on and early in we are amoung the top medal earners as is right and proper, and it sure would be nice to see us in the top few countries in terms of medals once they are over. Our national pride is at a high point and will be probably for a few months after the games are over, especially if we pull off gold in men and women’s hockey! By the time most Canadians are paying attention to what is happening in government affairs, however, it will be too late to do anything about the changes the Conservative government are pushing through regarding the elections act. It will become even more difficult to cast your vote and voter confidence in our system is already at an all time low, so the number of Canadians that will vote in the next federal election, and likely the same will apply to provincial and municipal elections, will drop to even lower levels than ever before.  How is that sad, you ask? If you follow Russel Brand and agree with his philosophy, which is that it does not matter, that your vote does nothing to affect any real change in our society, as the electoral system only serves to further the interest of the elite in our society who already have all the wealth and power, then the changes to the elections act probably have no affect on you and you could care less about what changes they make, because it just does not matter anyway. And perhaps you are right, but then what are the alternatives?

For the bulk of Canadian citizens, however, it does matter, most people want to have the right to vote and they exercise that right whenever there is an election and feel that their vote does matter and the system we have, or had, works just fine. This change the Conservatives are going to put through, after all they have a majority and if they want it to go through it will, in fact, go through, no matter what anyone thinks or does to try and stop it, will have some major affect on our democratic system. It will mean less people will be able to vote, even if they want to, that is a fact, and those are people who want to vote! It will mean the muzzling of the chief elections officer, so just think about that for a minute. I personally don’t have all the facts about this bill and all of the changes that it will enact, but I don’t like it one bit and neither should anyone who believes that we have a democracy that works and that voting in elected members to our parliament is a right we all should have as Canadians. This is just the latest of the changes that the Harper government has put into place that effectively move us further away from living in a truly democratic society. 

The latest trade agreement that Harper has just negotiated, FIPPA (Foreign Investment Promotion and Investment Agreement) signed in Russia, is a bilateral investment treaty that abrogates international and constitutional law, and essentially hijacks municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal laws that threaten the profitability of Chinese State Owned Enterprises. Since when have we given the feds that kind of power? Oh wait, there is this thing called NAFTA that has been so good for Canada, right? Another Conservative treaty that has essentially left us in a very sad state indeed, especially after the aforementioned agreements and changes to our democracy. Are we even a democracy anymore, can anyone tell me that, really, we live in a democratic society? I am starting to wonder about the sad state of Canada indeed.

I did say I might give some suggestions on how we, as Canadians, can do something to reverse the sad state we find ourselves in, didn’t I? How far could I go, what kind of changes could I suggest without being labeled as a terrorist, or an agitator, or becoming one of those Canadian’s being scrutinized by Canada’s version of the N.S.A? How far can any of us go before we find ourselves enemies of the state? I guess all I can hope for is the right to vote the Conservatives out of power in our next federal election, but they are working on making even that difficult for many Canadians, so…..