Just a thought… I love Canada. It’s a wonderful political act of faith that exists atop a breathtakingly beautiful land. [Yann Martel]
As all eyes are on the province of my birth today in a referendum vote, my thoughts are all about politics today. But I won’t share them.
Don’t worry – I won’t ruffle any feathers (at least, I hope not). We’ve been so inundated with nothing but political discussion of late – some of it, of course, surrounding the discourse south of our own, vast, unprotected border. November 3rd and their own mid-term elections loom (on Saturday night I dreamt that the criminal in the White House invoked some arcane law and shut down the democratic process in which his own fetid party is destined to lose ground). So, yes, a lot of politics on my mind…whether I want it or not, apparently!
Alberta is a quagmire into which I dare not step, but a province in which I ultimately have the utmost faith. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” the saying goes, and at this perilous time in our own beautiful country’s history, our mere existence as a sovereign nation may be hanging in the balance. Still, we have to believe that sanity will prevail, the righteous will win out, and our Canada will remain strong, free and united, despite the blatant financial and social media influence being exercised by our neighbors (sic) to the south.
A few weeks ago, a listener to our Gracefully and Frankly podcast and wrote and said that because of something I said about the separatists, she wasn’t going to listen anymore. I guess that’s the price of having an opinion, but one I’m willing to pay, Shirley. This isn’t just politics, this is home. This is our country. This is our grandchildren’s future. And I would like to believe that, as someone whose heart has a huge place for Alberta in it (since I was born there), I am allowed to have and even share an opinion. At least she didn’t say, “Why don’t you stick to…(insert full-time job here)”!
In our beautiful British Columbia, election workers have a week to recover from our municipal elections before we head to the polls this Saturday for an ill-advised provincial election. I cannot imagine what the premier was thinking when he called it, and we’ll soon learn whether it will turn out to be a blunder of epic proportions when votes for the Green or Conservative parties (the latter of which does not even have a leader, and continuously loses members to scandals that fly under the radar in the US but still manage to have consequences in Canada) gain ground. I dare not make a prediction but can only vote strategically and with all my heart.
I’ve talked to many acquaintances over the past few weeks and no matter which way they intend to vote (some saying they may not at all, which baffles me), all agree that David Eby was high on his own supply when he called this snap election. So it’s going to be a long week, my friend.
In the meantime, our hearts and thoughts turn to CFB Wainwright, Alberta and the members of the military (so far as I’ve heard, from three provinces) who lost their lives in what appears to have been a training accident on Saturday. We mourn with their families, their loved ones, their fellow soldiers and, of course, their entire community, as the long process of healing and coming to terms with this immense tragedy begins.
These are heavy days in our country, and ones in which we take stock of what is important: service and dedication. Family and unity. And most of all, what it means these days to be a Canadian. Heartbroken but hopeful. Concerned but committed. Courageous but cautious.