Conversation gets cut short virtually every time I try to initiate some form of serious discussion with friends. The Canadians I know are some of the most complicit, laissez-faire bunch I have ever met, and they’re only part of a larger national apathy that corrodes any illusion of democracy. I was utterly outraged – on the verge of tears – when a newfound friend of mine told me he had to drop out of school because the provincial government deleted records qualifying him for free transport. His spastic cystic fibrosis leaves the 32 year old bound to his wheelchair for life, and he has been trying to graduate for years despite financial and physical hardships just so he can prove his family he is worth a damn. And the provincial government come along and delete his transport file, setting him back another year before graduation. This never should have happened and the government should be held directly accountable. There was no accountability whatsoever. He’s going back to university in September, but he’s not getting any younger. The province certainly don’t care about his time, and it’s clear they’d rather have him stay home where he is cheapest to take care of. So who does care about his time? Not us. It doesn’t affect us. All I heard from people where apathetic sighs. That’s the government for you, they said to me, what do you expect? I expect more. An awful lot more. And I’ll fight for it, for my buddy, anyway way I can.
I was told tonight that the Canadian economy remains resilient to the U.S. recession because of its vast potash and uranium deposits. Canada is fast becoming an economic powerhouse, someone said to me. I see it first hand as a reporter on the ground watching some of Canada’s fastest growing regions scramble to keep up, and this outrages me as well. Why, in the 21st century, should one of the most developed counties in the world have an excelling economy because it exploits its natural resources with still-untold consequences? We’re in the 21st century, and Canada’s economy is thriving because of potash! An economic powerhouse because it can provide farmers with fertilizer needed to feed the vast corn crops of another failed initiative, ethanol (which all major political parties support). Yet in reply to my anger, I was told that I take things too seriously, that employment is high and people are happy. Sure, I said, but if someone is employed here, someone somewhere else is scraping by. Stop focusing on the negative, I’m told. Nonsense, it’s our responsibility to focus on the negative and do what we can. The everyday things in life are way more than enough to keep me happy.
Time after time people seem more determined to silence anything that may disrupt their peaceful existence when serious issues with serious consequences are unraveling at an unparalleled pace. This isn’t my doomsday declaration by any means, but it is a bloody wakeup call to all of the complicit Canadians I know, and millions I don’t, that seem to revel in this form of Pax Americana. They can sit out on a patio unconcerned after having learned that a man in a wheelchair has just been denied his education; they can enjoy a barbecue while a Columbian peasant learns that the government paid a slap-on-the-wrist stipends after killing one of the peasant’s friends, a unionized coworker (which is going to occur with the new Canada-Columbia Free Trade Agreement). They can do all of those things, and I’d encourage them to do so. I’m the first to be outside enjoying the summer. But don’t tell me to lighten up. No chance, no way and shame on you for your negligence. If you hit the patios one night, protest or petition the next. If you talk about the old days, talk about the dark days too. When are people going to wake up and act? Where is the collective outrage? Well we can’t talk about that. It’s another beautiful summer and best enjoyed on the patios and nightclubs - never mind the cold nights that the silent majority suffer.
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I am getting to know everyday middle-class Canadians very well because of my working environment. As a reporter, I am the link between their respective concerns and the politicians that generally enact their causes (albeit late, over budget and after the issue has come to a head, often with devastating consequences). Working on the ground like this, I also get a good sense of what average middle-class Canadians are lacking.
At all of the municipal council meetings I have covered over the past two years, I have only seen one other person my age (23) in attendance. An environmentalist, he was incredibly well educated at McGill and drove the municipality to protect a green corridor that is facing rapid fragmentation due to development. One person my age in two years! If citizens aren’t interested and active in affairs that directly affect them now, how can Canada possibly hope to have the democratic future it so desperately needs?
My proposal is this: Canada’s apathy has to be broken from the grassroots, but lets take issues to the town hall instead of parliament. At least you get to talk to those elected officials to their face. The war in Afghanistan - take to the suburban streets in mass protest so that local media start to cover the issue. The Canada-Columbia FTA, hold an information session at town hall or in the park to tell parents what the Canadian government is doing. The disconnect between Canadians and their politicians is only widening. Municipal movements can help close that gap and it will also remind Canadians of some of the larger issues that don’t directly affect their communities.
The problem with current left-wing movements is they are concentrated political masses. The idea is to counter power with numbers. But instead of concentrating a protest downtown or on parliment hill, break activists into groups in their immediate region. Not only would transport waste be reduced, protests would also cast a wider net. Instead of being covered by one city newspaper, issues would be covered by the city paper along with all of the surrounding weekly newspapers. Suddenly a local newspaper wouldn’t just be covering council meetings, it would be covering issues of global significance. I hope to start this project in one or two municipalities in the coming years, and expand it within Quebec to see if the idea can work. It’s a lot more exciting than sitting on the above mentioned patio and watching people pass.
If you like the idea or have any advice you can write in the comments field below or email me at matthewjamesbrett@hotmail.com
Matthew Brett is the Canadian Dimension weblog editor and a Montreal-based journalist at a weekly newspaper. Read other posts by Canadian Dimension.
