Citizenship
 
Each election politicians and pundits slice and dice Canada into shrink-wrapped ridings, categorize it into regions and put voters and taxpayers under microscopic scrutiny. But what of the citizens? Published: The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Nov 25, 2000. Op-ed column Deborah Jones/ Vancouver My family once spent almost a month driving across Canada. We left Halifax in mid-summer, and spun along highways and country roads throughout the languid month of August, in tandem with the sun as it caressed the land on its daily westward journey. That epic trip comes to mind during this federal election campaign. Since the writ was dropped, politicians and pundits have sliced and diced the country into 301 shrink-wrapped ridings. They've chopped the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and the West into regions. Each area has been subjected to microscopic scrutiny and cold calculation, to determine how best to sell a given party line to the taxpayers and consumers within. The vision of Canada that emerges from this campaign is a packaged, sterile country, no relation to the vibrant, graceful and oh-so-alive Canada that we drove across that summer. But the oddest thing of all is, that while driving from coast to shining coast, we didn't encounter even one of those mythical, parochial-minded taxpayers who, apparently, will choose our next government on Monday. No such person was to be found on New Brunswick's Campobello Island, where my family lay on a beach star gazing with friends who live in Ottawa. There was no trace of the Taxpayer in the Museum of Civilization in Hull, which we toured with friends who'd moved to Quebec from British Columbia. No Taxpayer had left footprints in Ontario's Muskoka area, where we swam and boated with some Nova Scotians. Manitoba's Lake of the Woods, where we camped with Torontonians, harbored many kinds of people, but not one was a pure-blooded Taxpayer. Even in tax-hostile Alberta, where we gaped at dinosaur models in the Badlands, or in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley, Taxpayers were conspicuously absent. The fact is, I've travelled this vast land of ours throughout my life, peering into some of Canada's most remote corners, and everyone I've met is as concerned with matters of the heart and conscience as much as they are about the taxes they pay out of their pocket. So now I want to know why, in Canadian public life, the words taxpayer and consumer have become synonymous with the word citizen? A survey of The Vancouver Sun's electronic archives from last year shows 2,399 documents with the word citizen and 3,777 documents with either taxpayer or consumer. It's a flawed piece of research, because electronic hits include brand names and the use of the three words in any number of contexts, but it does suggest that citizens are outnumbered by taxpayers and consumers. The election that is now nearly over has been almost entirely about economic issues. Tax rates have been at the forefront, with the Canadian Alliance and the incumbent Liberals vying to prove their own party can cut taxes the most. The aim seems to be to better align Canada with the U.S. economy. Even when it comes to health care, which polls have shown is the top priority for Canadian voters, we're described as consumers rather than patients or people. The focus has been less on quality of health care than the ideological divide over privatization and claims of so-called "two-tier" medicine. I am offended at how Canadians have been portrayed throughout this election as heartless souls. I am unconvinced that we are really so selfish, self-serving and hostile that we are each most concerned with taxes, and lack compassion for people in other regions. My irritation is not aligned to any political party, nor to ideological leanings. I'm not even that offended that the leaders of the major parties are demonizing each other more than they're dealing with policy issues. Rather, I am convinced that we're capable of something better. Canada recently wept en masse for the simultaneously loved and hated Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In 1995 we pleaded so eloquently for Quebecers not to vote for separation that a majority said no in the referendum. Canada is sufficiently respected around the world that I found my red and white Maple Leaf pin was almost a guarantee of a friendly reception during a trip to Europe last summer. Surely, Canada is a country peopled by citizens, not taxpayers? Okay, I know that we're surly because we've too often watched our governments squander our hard-earned pennies. The latest case in point is the scandal in which Jean Chretien helped a Quebec colleague obtain a government loan for a questionable investment in a business that Chretien himself once had an interest in, and it's soured me no end on the Liberals. Still, there's more to us than surliness, isn't there? Our economy is doing nicely, thank you very much. Employment is up. Crime is down. There's a surplus in the federal kitty. There's renewed commitment to environmental concerns. Most of our kids are thriving. Racial strife is at a minimum, at least compared to other countries. "Canada seen leading G7 growth," crowed one headline this week. Consensus Economics Inc. of London reported that economists forecast a Canadian growth rate of 3.5 per cent next year, a larger expansion than the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain or Italy. This year, as has become an almost annual event, Canada was named the best country in the world to live in, by no less than the United Nations, which measures countries according to a human development index that considers not only the contents of our bank vaults, but the real stuff of life like liberty, prospects for advancement, equality, health and education. A report this week on the health of British Columbians said that we're generally getting healthier, while flagging some problems. But instead of celebrating, we dwell on the bad news. We're so cranky that everyone I've talked to about the election almost spits out who they're voting against, rather than who they're voting for. At the end of our cross-country trip a few years ago, on Vancouver Island, we felt that we'd really seen what Canada was all about. The illusion lasted until we taped a map to a wall and, with a felt pen, retraced our trip. The result was a pitifully thin red line surrounded by a vast unknown country. I don't pretend to know what Canada is all about. But I do know one thing. We're capable of a grander vision for our country and ourselves than the glimpses of a miserly nationhood that this election have revealed. When I mark my ballot on Monday, I won't do so as a taxpayer, but as a citizen. Copyright Deborah Jones 2000 About this website: Text and photos by Deborah Jones except where otherwise noted. Please contact me for reprint rights. All material copyrighted ../About.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0
Quest for elusive citizen reveals a magnificent land
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