Politics Canadian Style

Well, what can I say? Whoever said that Canadian politics were dull must have been disabused of that notion over the last few weeks.

There are many more worthy commentators and pundits - from the whole of the political spectrum - who have weighed in on the "Rumble on the Rideau", so I will not try to go over any of that well trodden ground. What I want to comment upon, however, is what appears to be the lack of understanding by Canadians of how a Parliamentary Democracy functions. We are not the United States, where the President is directly elected by the people (albeit through the arcane Electoral College system - so maybe I should say "directly, sort of".

The failure to understand our system is attributable, I believe, to the lack of civics education in schools. I remember when I was growing up (lo those many years ago), that in elementary school, we learned all 50 states and their capitals before we were taught anything about Canada! I distinctly recall that some of the other kids in the class thought that there were 4 provinces in Canada, that the capital was either Toronto or Montreal (though one said Mexico City!), etc. I don't know if this is still going on, but one thing for sure is that there does not seem to be an understanding of our political system. I believe that we need to teach students how our political system works - at all orders of government. This is how we will engage Canadians in the process of nation building and maybe lessen the cynical view the public has of government.

Apart from that diatribe, I wanted to make one other comment about the last few weeks - that comment is contained in the video below from the Daily Show by Jon Stewart - yes Canada has made the Daily Show...enjoy!