What it’s like to be Canadian
Posted by Cassandra | Filed under Uncategorized
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That’s the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
- President-elect Barack Obama
Nov. 4, 2008 (transcript courtesy CNNPolitics.com)
For at least the past eight years, if not longer, one of the best parts about being Canadian was that we were not American. Most of us have had no confidence in George W. Bush as “leader of the free world” since he first took office in 2001, and we worked hard to separate Canada’s politicians, laws and values from the United States’.
We tried really hard to convince ourselves that, as a nation, we weren’t unintelligent neo-conservative, gay bashing, Iraq-invading, hate and fear mongering Christian zealots, among other things.
Now, we didn’t think all Americans were like this, but Bush represented these qualities, and it seemed like, for a while at least, many Americans believed and believed in Bush. And maybe we had all seen one too many episodes of Rick Mercer’s “Talking to Americans.”
It’s a matter of great national debate. What makes us Canadians? What makes us not Americans? How are we, our culture, our politics, our peoples different from America’s? There are plenty of conspiracy theorists out there who think we’ll one day willingly become part of the United States, or that the Americans will just invade to rape and pillage our oil, water and vast natural resources.
For the most part, though, we were all pretty content shaking our heads at how backward the U.S. was and patting ourselves on the back for how progressive we were, especially since we’ve had a (capital “c”) Conservative Prime Minister since 2006.
But in the months and weeks leading up to the recent U.S. presidential election, I think a lot of us found ourselves secretly, or openly, wishing we were American so that we could somehow participate in what we knew would be one of the most important elections in modern history.
The thought alone of having a Democratic president after eight years of Republicans excited the liberal Canadians, like me. But the idea of having a black or female Democratic president made us smile ear-to-ear and clap our hands with glee. Sure, some elements of their platforms weren’t perfect, but how progressive! How inspiring!
When Hillary was out of the running and we finally got to know Barack Obama, we fell in love. According to worldwide polls, 81 per cent of Canadians thought Obama would make a good president, and 70 per cent of us would have voted for him if we could. He’s charming, charismatic, liberal and, except for the whole NAFTA scare, he seemed pretty Canada-friendly.
It wasn’t just Obama’s awesomeness, though. It was also our own bleak political scene. Less than a month before the American presidential election, we had our own federal election.
With three middle-aged white men vying for power (and one middle-aged white woman with no hope in hell of becoming Prime Minister), it wasn’t exactly anything fresh or new for us. We had just elected, or not elected, the same guys two years ago. And like a lot of things Canadian, it was all kind of bland, boring and what we expected.
I’ve heard that some Americans said they would move to Canada if John McCain was elected to the presidency because he was too much like Bush, and it would be at least another four years of Republican conservatism.
But when it was announced that Obama would be president last Tuesday, I know at least I was wishing I was in Chicago or Harlem dancing in the streets, hugging my friends and family, screaming, “Yes we can!” Thinking, “Finally!” Feeling that this was one of those great positive moments in history for which everybody remembers where they were and what they were doing.
I was in bed watching a live MSNBC streaming feed on my computer. My boyfriend was quietly snoring next to me. Through the open window – it was an unusually warm November night – I could hear people honking their horns as they drove up and down Yonge Street screaming, “Obama! Yeah! Obama!” Down the street, my fellow Torontonians celebrated in Yonge and Dundas Square at the Welcome Back America party.
If I think about it really hard, I still don’t want to be American. Not really. I love my country and I’m probably as patriotic as we Canadians come these days.
What I really want is to be inspired by my politicians, to be moved to tears by the election of a special candidate. Sure, Jack Layton is a cool guy and all, but I don’t think I would have gotten goosebumps had he become Prime Minister instead of Stephen Harper. Yes, Elizabeth May is a woman, but that’s not enough. Nor is it about the colour of a person’s skin or the heritage of their family.
They will just have to be special, and they will have to represent real change for our country, like Obama does the United States of America.
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