This moment in time matters because I can’t help but feel that we are quickly losing most of the power over our lives. Many comments I hear from others lead back to some level of worry about the future. Some are despondent and wonder what will be changing next. I personally have no special insight into what direction our newly minted federal government is going, so I am of little help. But I hear the same conversations from friends and have the same questions myself. Much of our new political direction makes little sense, as somehow, we ended up in a place we didn’t expect, plan for or want to be. Some days it feels like a very bad movie!
A flash election determined by the ‘Elbows Up’ crowd, and many of us were left to wonder: what just happened and where is it going? Now we are trying to decide what we believe, what we want to believe and where we think we will end up. There is something calming about tradition as it was, which no longer appears to be our choice.
I like to know that those leading our country have our best interests as their priority. We had, and still have, no idea what our new leaders really have in mind. It seemed both leaders in the flash election had pretty much the same platforms – or did it just seem that way? So why would we worry? The words were the same, but so far, the expected outcomes are quite different and so are our world partners. Suddenly, our closest and friendly neighbour across the border is being billed as our biggest enemy. This same neighbour has, for lifetimes, given us enjoyment with their movies, their music and their food. We have shared sports across our borders and know the words to each other’s national anthems. Why does commonality always seem the safest and the most comfortable? While we all like to travel to other countries from time to time, we simply have the most in common with our closest neighbours.
Canadian identity for example is seen as having taken rise to anti-Americanism, so much so that other countries are talking about us. Some have even changed their visa/passport requirements and are asking more questions when we enter their country. And our young people, who see more work opportunity across the border, are being told they could be fined thousands of dollars if they leave and decide to come back to Canada in later years. Now the USA has been added to the list as somewhere we should avoid and not spend our money because of tariffs. But have they really tried? We don’t really know.
Today our Foreign Affairs Minister advised we have a ‘new best business partner’ across the Pacific: China. And “we should get to know China, and make broader people-to-people ties.” Haven’t we also for many years traded goods with China?
But they aren’t our best friends, nor our closest neighbours.
How did we get here? Nothing is making sense.