Good Governance and Election 43

What is the job of government? Think about that for a moment. What should the government be doing? What are we paying them to do?

The Constitution Act of 1867 says the role of government in Canada is "peace, order, and good government". It sounds a bit quaint, but it is included in the Constitution Acts of many Commonwealth countries, like Australia.

The Americans have "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". Sounds very free-wheeling and individualistic. Given the sh*t-show in the US, I'll have me some peace, order and good government, thanks.

But what is good government? While the history of the US is very individualistic, very "every man for himself", the history of Canada is far more collectivist.

The Indigenous people who were here first had, for the most part, collectivist societies. Resources were shared. The young and the old and the weak and sick were cared for by those who were strong and healthy.

The settlers who arrived on the prairies from the UK, and later from other countries, also relied heavily on community to survive. I want to acknowledge here that terrible things were done to the Indigenous peoples to make room for the settlers.

That is undeniable and a stain on our history. One of many. And treaties were made but the greed of men, combined with a total lack of understanding of other cultures, made life miserable for generations of Indigenous people.

This is important because it enters into what we need to consider in this upcoming election.

We did not have a gunslinger culture, or a wild west, not like the US. We had communities of settlers that relied on each other to survive the harsh climate and rugged terrain. People raised barns and houses together, they shared plows and oxen or horses. Community was the difference between life and death. And Indigenous people often helped, with their traditional knowledge of the land, healing plants, and even what things were safe to eat.

We have a collectivist heritage. It is radically different from the Americans, who started out with Puritanism and worked their way into a free enterprise economy, where Protestant ideals of hard work and severe punishment were extolled as virtues.

But we are not American. We are different. We, for the most part, believe in working together toward common goals. We believe in sharing and helping the less fortunate. We are a compassionate society, which is how we wound up with universal health care and the Americans did not.

What is good government? This is the key question we must ask ourselves as we go to the polls on Monday. I can tell you what I see as good government...

Good government is government that is focused on the public good. What is the "public good"? It is policies and programs designed to benefit the most citizens possible. It is public transportation.

It is infrastructure. It is universal health care. It is a universal child care program. It is school lunches. It is Pharmacare, and universal dental care. It is affordable post-secondary education and free, top-quality secular public education. It is a national elder-care program.

It is a judicial system based on proven best practices, not ideology. It is a support of science and the arts. It is a national public broadcaster that is well-funded and independent.

It is investment in people, in their education and health and opportunities. It is programs that prevent crime. It is giving citizens the tools they need to achieve their potential, regardless of the situation of their birth or their background or abilities.

It is judicious investment in companies that provide employment, so that they can expand their markets and thus employ more people. It is strict regulation of harm, from firearms and unproven medicine, to ensuring our roads and food and water are safe.

It is protecting our environment. It is atoning for past wrongs. It is looking to the future and transitioning our economy to meet the demands of the years ahead.

What the public good is not, is filling the pockets of the wealthy few. It is not reducing safety protections or removing care from people.

It seems in recent years the official conservative movement has forgotten this. I strongly feel that the CPC and its provincial counterparts mouth words that suggest they are concerned about people. But it is just theatre.

They view the Canadian population at large as units of production, assets to be used in creating wealth for the few. They will say some things that sound like they care, but it's pantomime. They see it as a game. Who can con the public better?

Health care and education are not actuarial concerns. They are ethical concerns. If we cannot afford to provide the best of both to our citizens, we should not cut them. We should figure out how to afford them.

We are not well-served when we hire a party who is not there for the public good. A party who is only there to benefit their corporate donors. We need to be discerning this election. If the CPC get in, we may never get them out. They will change our constitution to make hate and violence, ignorance and poverty, "normal" in Canada. A sort of USA north, if you will.

So, what do we want from the government?