"Canada needs to focus its gaze on urban reality," by Christopher Hume - The Diigo Meta page

• 19 Oct 08
  

  Yule Heibel

  Excellent article by Christopher Hume, commenting on the post-Federal election blues reality in Canada. Key quote: "In an age when an 'economic tsunami' can sweep across the planet in days and hours, however, only the quick survive. But nimble we're not." Canadian cities are hobbled by the British North America Act and the subsequent cast of the Canadian Constitution (difficult to fathom how it could be written in the later 20th century), and instead of nimble, they're paralyzed.

  christopher_hume thestar canada cities politics

  • An election without a winner may be exactly what Canadians like. But it does raise questions about how diffident, if not skeptical, we have become about leadership. Even when we want it, we don't trust it.

  • Pluralism may be Canada's new reality, entirely appropriate in a country that grows ever more urban and diverse. Diversity, of course, is shorthand for racial variety, simple ethnicity, multiculturalism, but it goes beyond that.

    At the same time, traditional political distinctions – Conservative and Liberal, right and left – are less helpful today. Indeed, they have become obstacles. And though we cling desperately to outdated national myths, this is already the most urban century the world, let alone Canada, has ever seen.

  • 4 more annotations...

  • • The messy outcome of the federal election reflected the form of urban reality, but not its substance. As always, our system favoured rural over city voters.

      There's no reason to believe this will change any time soon; Canadians have grown accustomed to federal governments that play little or no role in urban life, other than to set tax rates.

    • We talk about economic turmoil and taxes without articulating an idea of what we want Canada to be. Our political system has never seemed so out of touch, so unable to cope.

      Undervalued and overwhelmed, Canada's cities, where the vast majority of us live, are fighting to remain competitive, but it grows harder and harder. National housing, transit and infrastructure programs are conspicuous in their absence.

    • In an age when an "economic tsunami" can sweep across the planet in days and hours, however, only the quick survive. But nimble we're not.
    • What ails Canada isn't minority government but ineffective government. The real problem has as much to do with structure as policy.

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.