One more reason why I am happy to be a Canadian

Today, October 2, 2008 as the world and most of Canada watched the much hyped debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, a lot of Canadians tuned into the election debates in Canada.
For unlike our cousins down South - we are a true democracy - we elect governments to represent us and when they stop doing that we have a no-confidence vote and throw them out. In the past 4 years we have had 3 general elections. And as Canadians, we can easily continue on this path because no politician here in their right mind would think of spending close to 1bn dollars and 2 years running for a 4 year term. This time around, the politicians had about a month to prepare for general elections, and without much hype and expenses, here we are ready to vote next week. See, up here, we are just more efficient.

But this is not why I love being Canadian. I love belonging to the True North because here we can actually voice our opinions. No one in the debate shied from calling Mr. Harper a "liar", no one felt they had to talk about God and make false statements about how they supported something when really they didn't - no sir! Here in Canada, we call a spade a spade, and a liar like Harper is called a "liar". I wish CNN would broadcast the debates to the US - it would show them how really to talk about issues and allow themselves to get all pent up about things that matter. We had none of the Hollywood production, or the million dollar sets - our guys went to the TV station, sat around a round table and hacked it out with a referee. No audience, no million dollar suits - just a bunch of goofy politicians doing their job.

And in this bunch there was a pleasant surprise for me. Elizabeth May. Leader of Canada's Green Party I had pretty much written her off but she totally surprised me. Intelligent, articulate and not scared to voice her opinion, Elizabeth really showed the men what the issues that matter to the people were all about. Just seeing her on TV, wearing a suit which looked like it was straight from Zellers (our version of Walmart), unkempt hair, no makeup, and glasses which look like they belong on a school teacher in the 60s, showed me the prime difference between us and the US. In the US, Hillary and now Palin, spent hours getting their hair and makeup done, they wear designer clothes, they "dress for success", millions is spent on creating a product out of them. Still - they lack substance. Hillary with her wishy-washy stand on all things, and Palin who believes dinosaurs and my grand dad co-existed and hung out at the local Burger King. Elizabeth May showed us what Canada is all about - we are all about substance. The expensive paparazzi stuff we leave to those south of the 49th parallel. Here we focus on the mind.

When the election campaign in the US started last year, I remember thinking how lucky the US was to have a pick of such outstanding candidates. Fast forward to to, and I feel deep pity for a country that seems to not have any choice. No one really stands for anything there. McCain used to be anti-change and pro-experience, now Sarah Palin bashes Biden's age and she is now the agent of change (maybe she will now make my grand dad and the dinosaurs enjoy their meals at the local Thai restaurant now). Obama was "anti-off shore drilling"in the middle east, now he realizes he needs to win more votes so he is "pro-off shore drilling, McCain was the biggest de-regulator of all times and now he is saying that the reason the banks failed is because there was not enough regulation. What garbage is this? The sad part is the average American cares more about abortion than if his daughter will have a house to sleep in. America is slowly turning into a 3rd world and all the politicians can talk about is how they have to "win the war in Iraq"! It is a sad state of affairs there, and I am particularly happy that we are not in the same boat as them.

Let them have their fancy politicians, we'll take our dowdy ones who can actually discuss real issues.