I had promised myself that I was going to avoid all mention
of the American presidential primaries. In part because the whole process just drags
on and on, and in part because it is none of my business. Furthermore nothing I
could possibly say would influence anyone. I could as well have used the argument
that I really don't understand the American system of electing a president
except that in my conversations with numerous Americans - they don't either. My
resolve to not write about the process was made in spite of the obvious
temptation to pass comment on Donald Trump and what appeared to be his buffoonery.
Recent events in various Republican primaries suggest that at least the assumption
that no one could take him serious was, at best, seriously flawed.
Of more concern is the rise of Canada's own version of
Trump. Kevin O'Leary is a former participant on CBC's The Dragon's Den and a commenter
on economics with various news programs.
He has started to publically muse about his ability to be elected as the leader
of whatever party he chooses and then to be elected Prime Minister. In the
meantime he has promised/threatened to be a thorn in the side of any Canadian
government that proposes to run a deficit. This is from a man who has never
been elected to any public office or to the best of my knowledge ever served as
a consultant to any government. His absurd statements blaming the Albertan
government for the crash of oil prices in Canada only serve to demonstrate
either his profound lack of understanding as to how the international oil
market works or his willingness to be wrong simply to get attention. His public
suggestions/threats that he would ignore the constitution and any negotiations
with First Nations to ensure that oil pipe lines get built to both the east and
west coast could make one wonder how much money he has invested in the oil
fields of Alberta. It is tempting to believe that he is just being an idiot so
that his ratings on TV will increase
There is little doubt that much of what happens to the south
of us eventually migrates north. If negative political advertisements work in
the USA, they usually work almost as well in Canada (although not in the past Federal
election). If some movie star/president argues that there should be fewer
social programs or that all vaccines are bad for us - at least some Canadians
will believe it. If some TV reality star suggest that they, with no experience
and armed only with a big mouth, are better qualified than anyone else to run
the country - one can be reasonably sure that our own version of that person
will appear in Canada. But we don't need to follow the lead of the Americans.
And in this particular case we shouldn't. Politics is serious business. Running
the country takes vision, skill and a willingness to listen to others. We have
just spent eight years with a prime minister who lacked at least one of those
skills. We don't need to go down that path again.
If I could make a suggestion to all of the serious news
media including the CBC, Global, the Globe and Mail and CTV etc. - just stop
writing and talking about O'Leary. Imagine if American news organization had
ignored Trump 12 months ago. The Americans might actually have some real choices to make about who will be their next president.
