Canada's "dysfunctional" politics

Canada is a "cool" country, according to The Economist, but, as The Globe and Mail puts it, "[t]he latest edition says Canada is beset by dysfunctional politics, grumpy anti-Americanism and three brewing political storms: one in the West, one in Quebec and one in its relations with the United States".

This week's Economist includes a special report and a lead editorial on my beloved country, but, unfortunately, it's all premium content at its website. Pick up a copy and read more about us, but here's a bit more from the Globe:

It's upbeat about Canada's overall prospects: “Peaceful, diverse, tolerant (in June gay marriages became legal throughout the country) and with long-term riches to boot — if this isn't ‘cool', what is?”

However, it points to building political turbulence.

Looking at the campaign for the Jan. 23 federal election, the survey describes the country's politics as “a fractured mess.”

Prime Minister Paul Martin is “a fine finance minister, but as prime minister he has, on the whole, disappointed.”

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is described as “an aloof, cerebral figure, disparaged well beyond Liberal circles as a neo-conservative importing dangerous ideas from the United States.

He is also “clueless with the media.”

The magazine dismisses the NDP (Leader Jack Layton isn't mentioned) as “a socialist party from the old world that is ill at ease in the new one and has yet to find its Tony Blair.”

Well, sort of. The Economist is right about Martin, more or less, but Harper isn't quite the despised figure he's made out to be and the NDP is a fairly successful third party outside of Quebec. It may not have its own Tony Blair, but it isn't on the same electoral scale as Britain's Labour Party.

The Economist is also right that the likely outcome of next month's election is another minority Liberal government "propped up by the NDP".

And it's right about this: “Canada has everything, except perhaps ambition.”

There's extraordinary potential up here. Canada is a great land populated by great people.

The question is whether or not we'll ever live up to that potential. Perhaps being Canadian means forever countering ambition with humility. That's not such a bad thing, I suppose. We do need the political leadership to move us forward, but I wouldn't go so far as to call our politics dysfunctional. We are a truly postmodern nation struggling with our own sense of self-identity and purpose in a complex and interdependent world. Our politics merely reflect that struggle.

Which is a good reason for the rest of the world, much of which is breaking free of its modern certainties, to pay much closer attention to us. And to our upcoming election.