/A deer in the headlights

A deer in the headlights

From Shaman’s Rock

By Jim Poling Sr.

There are times when the political tribalism consuming us seems like a cancer that cannot be cured. Today, thankfully, is not one of them.

I say this after reading – in of all places The New York Times Aug. 28 edition – a thoughtful and balanced analysis of Canada’s issues, its weaknesses and how to start fixing them.

Commentary on our problems is based too often on opinions formed by people glancing at headlines or swallowing unedited, unsubstantiated social media junk.

Our opinions on the serious and dangerous problems facing us must be balanced and anchored on facts. The front-page New York Times piece, by Canadian writer Stephen Marche, does that.

Marche calls Prime Minister Justin Trudeau one of the world’s great progressive leaders whose government has done good work, such as cutting child poverty in half. But he says Trudeau is weak in the face of growing political tribalisation, and his policies have created some of Canada’s problems.

“. . . a new generation has emerged, for which the liberal technocratic order his government represents, has failed to offer a path to a stable, prosperous future and the identity politics he once embodied have withered into vacuous schism.” 

He suggests that Trudeau’s political career might end in failure because he is out of touch in a new world of extremism and division.

Today’s world is not the one Trudeau entered as prime minister eight and one-half years ago. Internationally, there are new armed conflicts and the rise of extremist governments.

At home we see the decline of our vaunted health care system, a rise in racism, more violence and anti-government protests like the current Israel-Palestine debacle and the 2022 Freedom Convoy that held Ottawa hostage for a month.

Not to mention immigration. The Trudeau government has brought in hundreds of thousands of immigrants without considering how the increase would affect housing and other services. Its own bureaucrats warned that large increases in immigration would drive up housing costs because house construction was not keeping up with population growth.

All this has created an unhappy Canadian electorate that has turned away from political co-operation and adopted more political extremism and tribalism.

The World Happiness Report ranked Canada 15th, up two unhappiness points from 13th last year. More disturbing, it ranked Canada’s young people 58th, the lowest among G7 countries.

In the midst of this stands a bewildered Trudeau: A deer in the headlights trying to understand what happened to the world of 2015.

His answer to much of this is for people to “recognize each other’s pain” and be kind to each other.

The last time I looked, the Marche article had drawn close to 900 comments, an amazing number for a piece about Canada in an American newspaper. Some of the commentators had good things to say about the Trudeau years; others called him a sanctimonious lightweight with half-baked ideas.

Many commentators say it’s time for him to go. So do most Canadians.  A poll late last year found seven of 10 Canadians say he should resign in 2024.

I’m among the seven in10 who say he should resign. Whether you believe he has been a good prime minister, or a bad one, it’s time for him to go. He has been around too long and has lost touch with what is happening in the world and his own country.

The big problem is who would replace him. There is no one in the opposition parties.

We need to find new leaders capable of leading us out of the chaos being created by extremism and political tribalism.

It doesn’t matter whether they call themselves Liberals, Conservatives or New Democrats. We need new leaders who put our country’s well-being ahead of themselves or their parties.

It’s not likely Trudeau will resign. He said in an interview earlier this year that he thinks about quitting “his “crazy job” every day but insisted he will stay until the next election, due in 2025.

“I could not be the man I am and abandon the fight at this point,” he said.

But he doesn’t seem to realize that the longer he lingers, the more his prime ministership will be deemed a failure.