The Courage to Lead

So you voted in the last election, did you? Remember why?

It might have had something to do with Adam and Eve, perhaps even Adam and Steve, but I'm willing to bet it was more a case of deciding that one side was good and the other was bad based on nothing more than a quick glance at an editorial, who your pastor decreed was God's chosen, or perhaps who had the nicest smile and the best teeth when they came to your door asking for your vote. And now you're wondering why Canada's governmental debate resembles a boxing match between Forrest Gump and Mr. Magoo.

Because you get what you put into it, that's why.

Democracy is a many-splendoured beast; something to crow about, something to lament, but mostly, these days, it's something to take for granted and abuse out of ignorance and inaction. We all like to say we are for democracy, but we never make the effort to embrace it.

Shame on you; shame on me.

This week the Conservative Party of Canada (or Reform Party, for all you historians) will stand up and salute Stephen Harper, their leader, messiah, Grand Poobah, and all-around media kick-toy, despite his doing nothing more than losing an election, leading an ineffectual opposition to a lacklustre and impotent government ripe for the picking, and spending the last week playing hypocrite to his ideals of free votes, grassroots debate, and something resembling dissent during his own party's policy review.

Give the man marks for chutzpah, but never, ever, call him a leader.

And in the other corner we have one Paul Martin, man of many ideas and accomplisher of none, receiving a vote of 88 per cent support during his recent leadership review for no other reason than his stranglehold on the Liberal caucus, the party, and half of the coffee houses on Bay Street.

Let me put this more simply: the Liberal Party is populated by sheep, and they went "Baa."

Of course, that sucking sound you hear is the vacuum of leadership in this country, and Jack Layton is far too small a man to fill it. The Canadian political scene is one where decisions are made according to the ever-shifting charts provided by Ipso-Reid; where voters grunt and swear at their counterparts in other provinces like baseball fans tossing peanuts on the heads of opposing batters; where smug politicos sneer at the stupidity of the common voter; and where the few of us who realize all of this want to fall into our drink and drown.

Haven't you had enough of this yet? I know I have.

Sadly, I bought into the idea that Paul Martin would lead Canada away from the fractured abyss in which it seems to be obsessed with miring itself, that Stephen Harper was the bogeyman, and that Jack Layton was the Canadian court jester not worth my vote, nor my time.

Only the latter was ever true, and I still wish Jack could have made it different.

Where once there was hope, there is now only timid mediocrity in the halls of Parliament. Just last week we were witness to the awe-inspiring sight of Harper hauling aside twelve of his own MPs so that they couldn't vote for their own party's budget amendment because, and get this, they just might have won the vote. Of course, they would also have forced an election, but apparently the Conservatives are more than happy to sit on their hands in opposition (to the titters of Liberals everywhere) rather than actually step up and try to lay their shaking paws on the nation's steering wheel.

And before all you folks who are scared Harper and his pitchfork-wielding minions are bent on dragging us back to the stone age of social consciousness and tax codes start shouting "Sounds good to me," just cast your eyes across the Commons floor and take a look at what stagnant democracy looks like.

People don't use the analogy of a pig trough for nothing.

Applaud the forward thinking of Paul Martin and Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler all you like for having the courage to put same-sex marriage legislation on the table, but the thanks is largely misplaced. The courts did all the heavy lifting for them, and where the Liberals could have done some heavy work of their own with bold foreign policy initiatives, health care reform with teeth and not just dollars, and dealing with age-old issues like native land claims and aboriginal rights that conveniently sit on the back burner decade after decade, instead we see a government content to sit back and dither its time away, spouting platitudes and casting an occasional eye on the polling ticker before tucking into dinner.

And why not? Who's going to stop them? Certainly not the Conservatives, and if the voting trends of the last decade mean anything, I wouldn't bet on the rest of us changing much any time soon, either.

Where is this generation's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Meech Lake Accord, or Free Trade Agreement? Say what you want about them, but they were bold, nation-changing initiatives spearheaded by bold, nation-changing people. Where we once had stature and respect on the world's stage, now we're laughed at as the home of Mr. Dithers. Canada has lost its courage to lead, and the courageous people to lead them.

It's time we stop taking democracy for granted and demand better. We need to participate more in the process of politics, educate ourselves, and encourage daring thinkers and ideas that keep a country vital and alive. It takes more than bitching about it all from the comfort of a couch.

It takes courage, and a passion for a process we are very privileged to have. It's about time we all found a bit of both.