There’s a grand geo-political redesign in the works or so it seems. The world has lots of moving parts and they’re moving faster and faster these days. Will the wheels fall off? Maybe. I’d like to think not. I’m open to any possibility. Are you?

I read with great interest Andrew Coyne’s opinion piece “The point is not to be different from the States. It’s to be better than them.” I respect the award winning journalist and I appreciate my subscription to his work, but today I struggle with what seems to be his fundamental assertion. Coyne’s piece insightfully analyzes the Canadian identity (crisis). He offers context about Alberta and Quebec (my home province) and their separatist tendencies. He describes Canadian culture and highlites some of the many features of our country including Medicare. Its a great article which I encourage every Canadian to read.

Its Coyne’s assertion that one country needs to be better than the other that I fundamentally question. Many people today are observing challenges to the status quo and digging in their heels to defend their current reality. They seem to be taking hard positions that bold new ideas are just plain wrong. Coyne does a great job of describing a range of possibilities for Canada’s future but seems closed to the idea that a new thing might be better.

There might be a new deal between Canada and the United States that, in the long run, could make the world, and my grandson’s life, better. I want to be open to that. We don’t need to be better than them. And they don’t need to be better than us. We just need to be better (off). All of us.

I’m tired of choking on my breakfast as I read newspapers and yelling at late night TV seeing politicians (and the journalists who help to keep them accountable) dig in their heels. I have a degree of hope that there is a better tomorrow out there and that it could be different from what we know today. We need to be open to that, and we need to listen to the possibilities without dismissing the people who offer them. I have reservations about Donald Trump as do most Canadians that I know. I also have reservations about our current and candidate Canadian political leaders. I’m trying to give them all the benefit of the doubt. And its not easy. I’m hoping that they can lead us all to a better tomorrow, including maybe one that is very different from today.

Photo Credit: Thomas K, pexels