Oh! Canada, You Missed the Point

I keep seeing posts about Bernie Sanders’ trip to Toronto in my Facebook feed. First, they came through the University of Toronto page, then, through Canadian media, and now, from Sanders' own page. And the message has been the same throughout - Bernie travels to Canada to tell Canada how wonderful Canada is. Don't get me wrong, Canadian healthcare is far and away superior to the disaster of US healthcare, and the purpose of Bernie’s trip was to learn about the Canadian system. And I've written a little about this superiority, and I’d also argue that in a few other really important areas, America would be wise to learn from Canada too.

However, these headlines also point to one of the things that really drives me nuts about Canada. We're too self-congratulatory, which is a problem that our southern neighbor makes all too easy. So, while I'd love to have a Canadian healthcare and education system in the US, when it comes to issues of race, gender, social mobility, inequality, First Nations rights, and a host of other issues, we're following the American lead, if we're usually just a few years behind. And in some cases, we might even take the lead *cough, tar sands, cough*. It strikes me as the epitome of Canadianness that we'd bring the most critically minded mainstream US politician to Canada, but not to criticize Canada, but to praise it.

It wasn't until I moved to the United States that I began to see some of the ways that Canada could learn from the US. And if there's something at the top of my list, it's that the United States has a critical political culture that doesn't have an equivalent in Canada. Granted, this hasn't materialized into political power (yet), but there's a vibrancy of discourse and a willingness to engage in political activism that I was never able to find in Canada—perhaps with the exception of First Nations activists.

I should probably watch Bernie's speeches from Toronto, to see what he says, but I suspect it's all about how America could learn from Canada. From Sanders' point of view, it's P.R. for universal healthcare, and that’s exactly what his American audience needs to hear. And this is exactly what Canadian's want to hear—how great we are, especially compared to the US. But I would pay money to hear him say: "By the way, what the fuck is up with the growth of white supremacy in Canada, or the Tar Sands, or carding (our stop and frisk), or violence against women, or the gender pay gap, or the quality of life for members of the First Nations, or the fact that inequality is growing at American rates, or ... or ... or ..."

That would be his last invitation ever—has he no manners!