Mr. Rock, Where's My Country?

So what is to be done? If anything I believe that this entire census fiasco may be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I’ve certainly had my fill of corrupt politicians and their corrupt policies and programs. I also believe that the census campaign may be tapping into a well of disenchantment running much deeper than this one issue. In the late 90’s, I worked on the federal census in a section of the largely working class district of Bowness in Calgary. There was plenty of working poor here as well – and, as you may guess, it was rife with anti-government sentiment, usually directed at myself. This made my job especially difficult and often times heartbreaking. In hindsight however, if there is to be any genuine reform in governance, at all levels, this is probably where it will start. And we all know where the working poor numbers are headed. I think there is a growing energy within this group that can be beneficial to the census campaign and perhaps something bigger. Single issue campaigns can be effective, however there may be a potential for the census campaign to be a flashpoint for a deeper questioning of what Canada is and ought to be. A time of reckoning is certainly at hand given the surrealism presently passing as politics and political decision making. After volunteering on the 1998 VLT campaign in Calgary, there was a tangible sense of empowerment that we had actually accomplished something as a community. Many of us wanted the organization to continue and address other pressing issues. It seemed like a waste to let this successful exercise in democratic participation simply vanish. But vanish it did. If we’re going to fire up the voice of protest and action, let’s go all the way and try putting meaning back into Canada and ourselves. Party, anyone?