While it is refreshing to see Allan Gregg acknowledge that public opinion surveys have undermined the political process, I am amused that it took him so long (“Desperately Seeking Ideas,” June). It was clear twenty years ago that polls were a serious problem. Unfortunately, our political leadership and news media now have a well-entrenched, narcotic-like dependence on public opinion surveys, and I don’t know how they might break the habit. Mr. Gregg’s article is a step in the right direction, but is itself a mirror of the flawed process he describes: he identifies a problem already recognized within the educated electorate, then fails to offer any clear solutions.
David Brosz
Courtenay, BC
Our media are also less than they could be. In Mr. Gregg’s indictment of “rampant media speculation,” rampant and speculation seem to ring true. I want media that dispassionately report both sides of the story, rather than the subjective nonsense we are receiving. As it stands, the media sway the undiscerning public and, as such, are no better than our less than honourable politicians. I am afraid that good government and responsible media have become oxymorons.
Trevor Peasland
Victoria, BC
I agree with Allan Gregg that the next election must be fought on principles. But such principles must go deeper than a simplistic list of prospective names by which Canada might be known. None of the prospective issues authored by Mr. Gregg focuses on a principle of governance. Instead, he mentions a series of particular hot-button issues—the environment, peacekeeping, cities—that can be counted upon to attract a certain special-interest segment of the population.
We seem unwilling to address the elephant in our living room: power in Canada is concentrated in Ontario, which cares more about maintaining the status quo than including all our disparate, culturally diverse, and independent-thinking regions into a truly reflective association. The greater our detachment from politics, the more we guarantee that Canada will remain as it is—held hostage by a single view of the country, with no vision for nationhood that can appeal equally to all Canadians.
As an Albertan, I am every bit as Canadian as anyone else in this land. But I am also disenfranchised, because nothing truly forward-thinking is done at the national level unless and until it benefits Ontario. And should any of us try to address that inequity, we are called redneck, racist, intolerant, or—worst of all—separatist. The sadness in this is that Ontarians are likely to be hurt by my accusation, fervently believing that what is good for Ontario is good for the rest of the country as well. But real equality cannot be realized as long as one region believes that it alone, as if by the grace of God, has the right to determine what is best for the rest of us. Quebec already knows this, and is willing to draw the line in the sand. Would that it did not have to come to that for the rest of us.
Markus Lemke
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