The problem with Canada is that we’re very close to America.
This isn’t always a problem, but it is in this election. Suddenly we’ve got a big American scandal right in the middle of our election. While there have been valiant attempts to get a big Canadian scandal at the same time, it’s just not at the same level as the upheaval south of the border.
The American scandal is naturally going to get a lot of attention, it’s like watching a car crash into a dumpster fire, and no matter what our Canadian party leaders can do ten or more years ago there just isn’t anything that can compare to that. But instead of watching the disaster next door, we have our own business to take care of -- an election’s going on we seem to be forgetting.
It’s like watching a house fire across the street while forgetting that you don’t have any toilet paper. While what’s going on with your neighbors might be a fascinating disaster, soon you’re going to have a crisis of your own.
The Canadian election just plain isn’t as exciting as an impeachment, and I get that. But to us, it’s significantly more important. Because the people who eventually wind up running the country are going to have more actual impact on our lives than anyone doing anything in a foreign country. While there are definitely people in Canada who will be impacted by what’s happening to the south, it’s still time to pay much closer attention to what’s happening in our own country.
Yorkton has been especially quiet this time around. Look around and you’ll find a surprising lack of lawn signs, and a seeming lack of interest in the election. I have seen two lawn signs in city limits so far, and one of them was in a picture.
Outside of town, one candidate has two signs near some fields. Hardly a ton of election interest, it’s probably the quietest it has been in the past decade. I suspect that I know who is going to win, based on the miniscule amount of signs. The question is just how awful the turnout will be.
But it also takes real effort to focus on what’s going on in Canada when there’s a disaster nearby. There’s nothing exciting about toilet paper, after all. You need it, sure, but it’s not something you think about until it’s too late, and you’re caught short at an inopportune time. The election, right now, is a dwindling toilet paper supply. We are looking at more exciting things, while the crisis point gets nearer and nearer. It feels like suddenly, on Oct. 21, we’re going to be caught short. We need to turn away from the exciting disasters and start paying attention to our house.
