As the so-called off season fades into the long weekend and the real world returns on Tuesday (well, apparently Wednesday if you’re going to school around here), it’s time to once again take stock of the world around us, such as it is…..
……just because we’re experiencing one of the longest federal election campaigns in history doesn’t mean it’s going to have the most to offer.
Although I figure the real campaign starts after Labour Day, or at least in most people’s minds, as there hasn’t been much offered to a cynical electorate that’s craving real leadership in some form or another.
While the Conservatives do their best to distance themselves from the Duffy affair, good luck with that one (Who? What? Where? When? What’s his name again? Never heard of him. Come again?), the NDP promises everything to everybody despite the cost and the fact that we apparently are in a recession and the oil and gas industry, that helps pay for a lot of things, is on their naughty list and is already providing less and less to our coffers, yet somehow they are going to balance the budget (again, What? How? Come again?). And then there’s the Liberals struggling to find their way through the political goo to establish themselves as a viable alternative to, well, the other two, and so far coming up well short.
Obviously there’s still time to capture the public’s imagination, as like I said it’s the longest campaign in modern history, but so far it looks like same old, same old from all three likely resulting in a minority government for the Tories as the opposition parties divide up the well-deserved protest vote.
Which means, sadly, we would likely get to do this all over again in the not-too-distant future.
So to try and avoid this I would like to offer this to all three would-be saviours: cut out the crap that suggests you have all the answers for everyone, and the accompanying promises of money and attention that, let’s face it, won’t happen, and give us some honest, thoughtful answers that suggest you care about us and respect our intelligence and that you’ll do your best but, in reality, you’re winging it like the rest of us.
A little humour, which I know is taboo in these controlling, politically correct, oh so serious times, wouldn’t hurt either but I’m not holding my breath.
I think you might find Canadians will respond to someone they can actually connect with and may even want to go for a beer with, given the opportunity.
In other words, throw the script away and get real for a change, it will be refreshing for everyone involved and it might even result in some kind of bond or trust factor that is sorely lacking at this point in the game.
Of course the handlers and party politics will say it’s way too risky and I’m being naive and nostalgic and I’m the one who should get real and they’re probably right.
OK, but even though it’s still six weeks away and anything can truly happen, I smell a minority government on the horizon……
…….and speaking of long and winding roads we just shipped our oldest son off to Victoria for university. Well, not so much shipped as loaded up the truck with every castoff we thought he might need to establish a new home for at least eight months or so, and headed off Clampett-style for the Island.
And Griswold-style, our makeshift tarp only lasted a few kilometres and luckily it didn’t rain, much, and we weren’t transporting pets or anything, so we all got there in one piece, but boy that ferry is expensive.
Although we still have one at home (no longer can he split unloading the dishwasher duties with his brother so there is hardship involved), it’s a bit of a watershed moment for our family and I blame one member of our family for making it more watery than it really needed to be……..
