What would happen if someone were to take a poll and ask Canadians the names of the members of our Prime Minister’s immediate family? I’d be shocked if more than one in one hundred could name all three. But poll those same Canadians about the names of the members of the Obama family and not only will many of them be able to name the President’s wife and kids, a few might even toss in the name of the Obama’s mother-in-law for good measure. This is just one of the many ways in which Canadians and Americans approach national politics differently.
Watching political news from the States is like watching reality television. It’s flashy and filled with drama. Also, the packaging of political news is much more enticing for those who don’t consider themselves political animals. If you can’t wrap your head around the issues themselves, you can simply follow personal lives of the characters involved.
Canadian politics may seem bland by comparison, but I’ve always felt it was much more sophisticated. To me, all the fancy packaging surrounding American politics is akin to a tasty doggy snack with some prescription pills hidden inside because the owner knows the dog won’t eat the pill by itself. I appreciate being treated like an adult (a human adult for that matter) by my news broadcasters, but at the same time, it’s nice to be able to get a little bit of drama and excitement sprinkled in with your news coverage every now and then.
The contrast between the Canadian and American systems is most obvious during elections. To see this, we need only look at the most recent federal elections of both countries. Barack Obama campaigned for the better part of two years in order to get elected to the Presidency in 2008. In that same year, our Conservative minority government called an election in September and the whole thing was over in five weeks. I can remember watching in amazement at all the pomp and circumstance that accompanied every campaign rally south of the border. What struck me the most was the ubiquity of those campaign posters with the candidates’/ticket’s names printed on them. I couldn’t help but think of all the trees that got cut down for a bunch posters that would be used for all of one day before being thrown out.
Some would argue that the pageantry of the U.S. elections draws more people to participate, and makes for a more representative democracy. But even after steady increases over the last two elections, the Americans only beat us by a measly 2.9 percentage points in voter turnout (61.7% to 58.8%), and that was with Canadians posting one of our lowest turnouts ever. On top of that, all the campaigning and advertising means that candidates must bend to the demands of the corporations and the wealthy so that they can raise enough money to be competitive come election time.
Any way you slice it, it’s difficult to come up with a strong case for why the American model works better than our own. Yet in spite of this, whenever I turn on the TV I still find myself tuning in to CNN or MSNBC long before making my way over to CBC Newsworld. I guess at the end of the day Canadian politics - especially its current incarnation - can be pretty boring. Sorry Laureen, Benjamin and Rachel! :(
the biggest reason (and there are many) that US politics is so much more intriguing is that the stakes are so much higher... when a US President makes an executive order, you know that there are global implications. you can't really say the same about CDN politics.
I guess it's a matter of personality too. Harper's as boring as they come. Trudeau on the other hand was a dynamic, exciting figure. Most Canadians know almost everything there is to know about him and can name his wife (Margaret) and kids (Justin, Michel (RIP) and Sasha).