Canada used to be known for diplomacy, peacekeeping, stewardship of nature, tolerance, fairness and civil society. Under Prime Minister Harper, we’ve become a different country. We renege on the Kyoto Accord; our military hand over captives to be tortured; our police tyrannize citizens with impunity. We’re no longer deemed worthy of a seat on the
Canada used to be known for diplomacy, peacekeeping, stewardship of nature, tolerance, fairness and civil society. Under Prime Minister Harper, we’ve become a different country. We renege on the Kyoto Accord; our military hand over captives to be tortured; our police tyrannize citizens with impunity. We’re no longer deemed worthy of a seat on the UN Security Council. Our weak environmental regulation means our oil sands are viewed as a threat to the planet’s health. Under Premier Stelmach, Alberta has had waste, royalty chaos, caucus rebellion, firings and defections. He’s chosen to resign.
Why do we have this kind of leadership? Is it the men themselves, the way they’re selected, the political system? Or is something rotten in the state of Denmark? In this issue Fred Stenson puts the blame both on the men and the system that brings them to prominence. Conservatives in Alberta can take it for granted that their choice of leader will become premier of all of us. In any election, even much better qualified candidates running under a different banner have little chance against a Conservative. But even Conservatives didn’t really choose Stelmach. He came up the middle in a contest between Ted Morton and Jim Dinning, and won by default. Is it any wonder that Alberta’s political culture doesn’t provide the best government?
The party system is dysfunctional. Our traditional political parties—Conservative, Liberal and NDP—originated in a long-ago hierarchical England, rigidly stratified into so-called upper, middle and lower classes, where Tory, Whig and Labour parties arose to defend their differing class interests. Is such divisiveness necessary here today? Or are old-line political parties an anachronism in contemporary Canada?
People came to the New World to create a new social order based on equality and mutual goodwill. Government was to benefit the whole society by, for example, providing universal access to education. The aim was for everyone to have a decent standard of living. It wasn’t admirable to expect special privileges. The country was built on co-operation, not warring classes. Canada has become a very different society than that England of long ago.
But lately a strange belief has taken hold: that the unfettered pursuit of private wealth is somehow good for society, as is the unbridled exploitation of natural resources. It’s quite acceptable for the rich and powerful to have special access to government to influence decisions in favour of their own narrow interests. The oil industry seems to do whatever it likes. They drill, drain and depart. Over 100,000 abandoned wells in Alberta languish in limbo. Requirements to remediate the damage are meaningless without a timeframe. The prevailing zeitgeist is: sell everything as fast as possible, take as much as you can for yourself, and have as little concern for others as you can get away with. No government “interference.” No taxes. This is the program of the Calgary School (Tom Flanagan [no relation!], Ted Morton, Barry Cooper, et al.), and it’s had too much influence on our current leaders.
If we want better leaders our culture has to change. People’s consciousness has to change. We need leaders with a better vision, who have the confidence to trust and build trusting relationships, who work not to separate but to connect us, who believe in Canada’s capacity for greatness, who are grateful for the beauty of the land and the strength of the people, who inspire us to care about each other. We need to inspire such people to want to seek political office. If we want better leaders, we have to be better ourselves.
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