“I know I should show more interest in Canadian politics,” said my cousin with a grin after learning Joe Biden was stepping aside. “But American politics is so much more interesting.”
This is an unfortunate fact: Canadian news is a hard sell. I mean, for the last nine years, we’ve had to compete with Donald Trump – and, as we now know, that won’t be ending anytime soon (I could delve into an election post-mortem, but it’s still a little raw).
Even without Trump, U.S. politics is interesting... consequential... and entertaining! Say what you will about American news networks, they know how to keep you watching. Not to speak from personal experience, but one can go overboard, especially when one starts to prefer CNN over one's local news networks (ahem!)
Even if we don’t follow the news daily, many of us know more about the U.S. than we do our own country.
For example, how much do you know about the Canadian Supreme Court? Do you know there are more female than male justices for the first time in Canadian history? Do you know they wear red and white robes that make them look like Santa Claus?
How many Canadians know what the Senate does? Do you know it’s a complete waste of taxpayers' money? (I had a professor who served as the clerk of the Senate and even he advocated for its abolishment!) Unlike in the U.S., where the Senate is elected, ours is appointed by the prime minister and has little to no authority. Other than doodling and vacationing, Canadian senators review legislation and try to stay out of the news – because if they are, it’s likely they misappropriated funds or said something foolish.
The American Senate, by contrast, has all kinds of power. It approves presidential nominees, creates budget bills and develops laws. The House of Representatives has a similar role, but its members serve two-year terms instead of six. This means Americans are almost always in the midst of an election year.
If you blink, you might miss a Canadian election. Our campaigns typically last five to six weeks, and that’s just the way we like it.
Speaking of Canadian elections... Do you know Manitoba elected its first ever Indigenous premier of First Nations descent? That happened a year ago, in case you missed it. More recently, B.C. re-elected an NDP government where a recount gave them a one-seat majority a full week after the election. They won their last seat by 22 votes! That’s almost as exciting as the 2000 Bush-Gore election dispute, but without the hanging chads!
I’ll leave you with some other fascinating historical tidbits in Canadian politics:
- Our first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald was involved in a scandal involving the railroads. He lost an election because of it, but like Trump, he just needed a break. Five years later he was prime minister again, a post he hung onto until his death.
- Our longest-serving prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, is probably the most Trump-like – as in weird. Not only did he participate in seances to talk to his deceased mother and dog, he also enjoyed the company of prostitutes (I mean, that’s pretty Trumpian).
- In 1926, a dispute between the Governor General, Lord Byng, and the prime minister erupted when Mackenzie King was denied his request for an election. The controversy, known as the King-Byng Affair (love the name), backfired on Byng, leading Canada on a path of greater autonomy from the United Kingdom. King won re-election that same year, ultimately serving as Prime Minister for another 19 years. Byng, on the other hand, was fired. (Just kidding, his term ended.)
- In 1991, Canada got its first female prime minister, Kim Campbell. Unfortunately, she only lasted 132 days. That's not long, but two men held the high office for even shorter terms: Charles Tupper in 1896 (69 days) and John Turner in 1984 (66 days). They make Joe Clark’s tenure of nine months seem like an eternity.
- In 2015, Justin Trudeau proved you can win a Canadian election by promising small, ten-billion-dollar deficits, the legalization of weed, and an eternally ever-growing tax on fuel. Only in Canada, eh?
Now that’s newsworthy!
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