Those schizophrenic Canadians

Ipsos Reid have been talking to those Canadians again, seeking their views on political utopia.

According to their latest release: “most Canadians feel the minority-governing Conservatives and the opposition parties have a responsibility to try, as best as possible, to make the current government functional.”

The minority Conservative government is expected, by the people, to:

· “Have a responsibility to listen to the opposition parties and amend their policies to prevent being defeated”(78% agree, 39% of those “strongly agree”); and that they

· “Were elected on a clear platform and should implement these policies even if they risk being defeated by the opposition parties” (75% agree, 36% of those “strongly agree”).

Funnily enough, when the questions were reversed and focused on the oppositions need to be cooperative, the responses were pretty much the same.

I don't know if the Canadian voters are schizophrenic, or is it just a case of; “tell what they want to hear Beryl so they’ll just piss off!”

I know most Canadians would love nothing more than a political utopia, where everyone ‘just got along’. If that were really the case then why have elections and choose between competing policy positions? We could just appoint a bunch of well meaning people to sort things out over a cup of tea and biscuits.

Instead of the ‘polity’ we could call it the ‘politey’ and any potentially divisive issues would of course be banned. No talk of war, or those dreaded homosexual; no sidetracking down abortion lane.

Not that Canadians are opposed to a bit of heated discussion, but that is generally reserved for ice hockey, which makes sense if you think about it. More and more sport is playing the role of ‘aggression valve’ in the world.

So there you have it, let the arguments be about sports and the politics can become an agreeable side issue, preferable one rarely visited.