Nov 02 2008
Obama Vs. McCain - Why should Canadians Care?
Given the length of American Presidential campaigns, it is little wonder that at some point, a Canadian election was going to overlap with the American election. In Canada, from the announcement of the election, until the formation of the government, only a few weeks had passed. In the States, a few weeks isn’t even enough time for potential candidates to decide on whether or not they’re going to enter the fray. That amount of speculation from a Canadian politician would result in them missing the vote altogether, which would be equally amusing and sad.
At one point, the campaigns on both side of the border overlapped as the vice-presidential debate went head to head with the debate between the five leaders of Canada’s political parties. Not surprisingly, few if any Americans tuned in to see Stephen Harper and Gilles Duceppe duke it our over arts funding, but many Canadians did choose to see Sarah Palin and Joe Biden go toe to toe.
What is our fascination with American politics? Why do we seem to pay more attention to what happens in Washington rather than what happens in Ottawa? I tend to think it’s a combination of a couple of things.
1) Americans seem to care a whole lot more about their elections than we do. Voting for the actual individual, rather than a party and giving that one person such a large amount of responsibility and power would do that, in my opinion.
2) We are exposed more to American politics than we are to Canadian politics. With all due respect to CBC and it’s programming, far more Canadians are tuned into American channels and as such, learn more about politics south of the border than at home, whether they mean to or not.
3) We’re more worried about who is leading the United States, than who is leading Canada. Let’s face it - whether or not you like Stephen Harper, or think he’s a doofus, Canada is a small time player in the world when it comes to potential Armageddon. We’re known as peacekeepers much more than aggressors and with the current situation we have in Ottawa, no one in the Prime Minister’s office is going to change that. More Canadians fear getting accidentally bombed due to our proximity to the States as opposed to on purpose. Honestly, when’s the last time Canada really offended…well, anybody? Even Switzerland thinks we’re kind of bland, I hear.The fact is, whether we like it or not, we sometimes get lumped in with the States. This has benefits and costs on the international scene, but it is a reality. We all like having big brother around to protect us, but it means that when big brother pisses someone off, we might have hell to pay as well.
