Sunny Days

I spent part of the morning watching the new Canadian Prime Minister and his cabinet being sworn in. It was an interesting experience and certainly there was a small part of me that wished I had driven up to Ottawa to be part of the crowd. Justin Trudeau could not have picked a nicer day for the event. The lawn around Rideau Hall looked as Canadian as one could ever imagine with some of the fall colours still showing on the trees and the leaves on the ground.

It is difficult not to be cynical about the process or at least about the possibility that it is all just for show and that nothing will change. Commentators have made the obvious comparison to President Obama and suggested that the new Canadian leader will fail to deliver change just as Obama has failed to make any real changes in the American political landscape. There are of course, some very clear differences between the two political systems. In the American cabinet, the heads of various departments (ministries) are appointed, in Canada every minister has been elected to sit as a member of the Parliament. The Prime Minister does not need to seek approval for their appointment. Secondly, the Prime Minister already has the support of at least the lower house. Every bill that he proposes at least technically will pass whereas Obama has had to battle both a congress and a senate that has opposed him on principle. In these times of promised new civility and the increasing lack of patience of Canadians towards the Senate, it is hoped that Trudeau will not face as nearly a partisan Senate as did Obama.  And finally, Obama came into power just as the worst economic crash since the 1930s was occurring. One hopes that there will not be another economic disaster any time soon.

However, some of the changes that Canadians expect will not happen quickly or easily. For example neither the CBC or the postal system will ever get the degree of government support it got 20 years ago. There is neither the money nor the political will to do so. Those services and others within the public service that have lost staff, systems and a specific corporate culture. It is a reality that once an organization is gutted both emotionally and financially it is probably impossible to rebuild it to its former glory. As well whether or not 25,000 Syrian refugees will get here before Christmas, whether or not there will be a clear Canadian consensus on how to stop (if not reverse) climate change before the world meetings on climate change, or whether or not investing in rebuilding our infrastructure will grow the economy are question that will only be answered in time. I suspect that the greatest quality that all Canadians need to have right now in terms of their expectations is patience.

Trudeau promised a gender balanced cabinet and he delivered. The cabinet appears to be made up of a nice mix of men and women  and women seem to have some important positions - they clearly are not just window dressing). As well there are MPs elected from all parts of Canada, there is a reasonable diversity in terms of heritage and  there are two people with visible disabilities. Some of the people look incredibly young (but that may be me just feeling old), while others may have had very interesting life experiences, but they don't know a lot about politics or about running a large bureaucracy. I am sure for all of them, they are committed to the Liberal plan which at its heart said we need to do things differently.  

They looked excited and I suppose that is a good thing when one has just got a new job. I will wait.