Election direction: front-runners are shying away from bold ideas, harsh realities

OTTAWA—We’re a week into campaign season and we know one thing for sure: we’re not supposed to talk about some of the most glaring issues that influence the future course of this country. Election 43 has already been heralded as the ‘election about nothing,’ but why is anyone surprised? The penchant we have in Canadian politics for obscuring the truth and pivoting away from acknowledging it has brought us to a point of naivete that just isn’t a cute look anymore. While those on the campaign trail set the agenda of discourse—through journalists reporting on their every move—they make sure to establish a rhythm like that of Michael Bublé, which is to say, not much rhythm at all. From the so-called front-runners (the Liberals and Conservatives), there is no grand design, there are no bold ideas, there are no breakout candidates. Frankly, this election says nothing while the world burns and social and technological undercurrents threaten how we live our lives, and in what state we do so. What’s so important about this election is what we’re not talking about, not what we are: affordable housing, the effects of a retiring baby boomer cohort, technology and the future of work, real climate change, reconciliation, diversity and discrimination, and of course, race. What the first debate—put on by Maclean's/CityTV on Sept. 12—showed us was that we are choosing amongst a field of people who don’t want to confront those realities, although one could make the argument that the NDP made the greatest efforts to at least acknowledge them. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, pictured on the set of the Sept. 12 Maclean's/CityTV federal leaders' debate. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade When asked about Quebec Premier François Legault’s request for federal leaders to stay out of the legal challenges to Bill 21, for example, Elizabeth May responded, “it may be that we can find a solution where we leave Quebec alone, but we find jobs for anyone that Quebec has taken off of their payroll for working in a government job.” Essentially, remaking the Underground Railroad is the Green Party's grand plan to help those affected by Bill 21. Let that sink in. Meanwhile, Andrew Scheer’s response was akin to the ubiquitous corporate employment equity statement that every job hunter is bombarded with on every application. With candidates like these, we don’t need cowardice, we have “leadership”—one that says nothing in the face of state-led discrimination. It is obvious that bold ideas to deep, structural shifts to our post-WWII industrialized economy are necessary to react to a country that has gotten more diverse and is forced to evolve from its resource-rich economic base. The question becomes how is it possible, despite so much happening around us and to us, that this national election is still undefined and hollow? The answer rests with the empty podium, a placeholder for a complacent party in power, the beneficiary of a political system that favours centrists and incumbents. We have a long history in this country of giving governing parties near-endless second chances, and favouring incumbents until we are absolutely bored of them, but not a minute sooner. Our political culture has been conservative, shying away from all the mechanisms that would otherwise make a traditional parliamentary political system robust and engaging—minority or coalition governments, for example, through which diverse ideas and voices are possible. And despite promises to the contrary, the Liberals squandered political momentum to shift us to a more representative system, or even the discussion of such a possibility. We are mourning what may have been a referendum on the subject this October. Unless we embrace the messier and more challenging sides of our current political system—or work to reform it—we will be left with perfunctory elections, called out of necessity, and fought with no heart and no vision, because neither is required. Third parties will continue to be ignored as having little bearing on the proceedings. As per usual, commentators will steer focus on pollsters’ predictable projections of winnability, paying no mind to the fact that winnability is usually unearned. We will collectively lament as to why so few people turned up at the polls to give voice to their hard-earned democratic rights. Fittingly, the Liberal Party’s campaign song this election, “One Hand Up,” by The Strumbrellas, features the line, “just don’t give up on me.” Fitting, and entirely uninspiring. Not unlike this election. Erica Ifill and Amy Kishek co-host the Bad+Bitchy podcast. The Hill Times