Sad Political Realities

The poll taken by Abacus Data mid-month August tells a sad tale of Canadian society complacent with the fixation that celebrity and the appeal of charm, youth and good lucks trump assurances of tried-and-true intelligence and the capacity to govern well by someone who wasn't born with that proverbial silver-spooned-mouth, engaging personality and youthful appeal.

Thomas Mulcair

The New Democrats, now in opposition, see their sharp-minded leader, Tom Mulcair's popularity among the electorate at a wan 20%, with the governing Conservatives' Prime Minister Stephen Harper's popularity a mite over 30%, and the callow, flub-prone leader of the third-place Liberals, Justin Trudeau, at an astonishing and dispiriting 40%.

"The longer I'm prime minister ... the longer I'm prime minister." Stephen Harper heads up the longevity chart. He's pictured here winning in 2008. Photo: Leah Hennel/Calgary Herald

Justin Trudeau has distinguished himself as the oldest son of a former Prime Minister of Canada, full-stop. He is no intellectual, nor has he demonstrated any capacity as a politician with a respectable awareness of world affairs, let alone how to govern a large country alert to its internal needs. There's more than a hint of cupidity in the man's hiring himself out as a public speaker while sitting in Parliament. His pronouncements on the politics of China and Russia, immigration and Quebec separation, let alone the Islamist threat in the world community have been jejune.

Photo: Paul Chiasson, CP

He speaks constantly of the financial plight of the Canadian middle class, as though he alone has those concerns, while never having had the experience of a middle class life. His failure to present himself in the House of Commons on a regular basis, preferring to gad about the country to shake hands with people in towns and cities, visiting senior centres, high schools, community groups to bask in the glow of their admiration and awe of a future prime minister which is certainly the attitude he exudes with the certainty of one alert to polls, sustains him, not the details of how a responsible government comports itself.

He has been portrayed publicly by his detractors and thoughtful onlookers alike, who are not necessarily one and the same, as a mental lightweight with no resume -- other than having taught drama at a private boys' school in British Columbia -- little informed judgement, and exceedingly gaffe-prone, emphasizing his considerable lacks. But these discrediting details which would surely sink the ambitions of most politicians have done little to detract from public admiration of Pierre Trudeau's boy.

Sharp minds do not so much impress the Canadian electorate, fascinated with the culture of celebrity, preferring in this instance, a brash, dull mind of a staged personality; so what does that tell us about the majority of Canadians of voting age? Contained, capable intelligence versus exuberant vacuousness; no contest.

It is a battle of personalities, not party platforms necessarily since all three major political parties in Canada have gradually moved themselves to a centrist political position. Each of the party platforms with some exceptions can be taken for a reflection of the other. There is no party that doesn't call for a balanced budget, for no tax increases, for support of Canada's social welfare system in health care, education, and assistance to the vulnerable. The unspoken agreement on not touching abortion or capital punishment or immigration is shared by all of them.

So it is a personal choice of personality; which most appeals to shallow-minded people in a popularity contest. The happy face with repeated empty idealistic statements wins the order of the day. Even though the Abacus poll concluded that most respondents have no complaints and are in fact complacent with the direction the Conservatives have taken the country on the economy, uppermost in most voters' concerns is that they remain taken by the allure of callow youth, entertaining exploits and attractive looks.

It is not platform but personality where celebrity culture trumps political acumen and the challenges that intelligent leaders grapple with to take the country in a direction that will prove most practical, useful and forward our advance into the secured future.