A Great Country

Liberal 169, Conservative 144, BQ 22, NDP 7, Green 1

This afternoon provided a sudden experience of fellowship and camaraderie in the men’s change room of our local swimming pool. Naked and half-dressed men seemed in a particular jovial mood, topic of yesterday’s election came up. Raised by an old guy who hails from Austria and cheerfully endorsed by a heavily accented white Spanish guy from Columbia and quickly chimed in by a mobility challenged MS guy who needs an hour to get dressed, the main point? So now we got a Canada almost same as yesterday morning! We laughed and laughed. Says the Spanish guy, “All South America, countries full of corruption, big business, and the governments can’t do anything about it.” “Like the U.S?” I asked.  “Oh yeah for sure,” was his reply. “The best place by far is Canada because here is something else.” Almost there was a cheer as the enthusiasms continued.

Never before in that change room! I’ve dressed and undressed in front of those lockers for at least five years – always a somewhat cautious meting out of comments about this or that and then the silence. Yes this is Calgary, I would tell myself, quite similar to church men’s breakfasts I have attended over the years. In today’s metamorphosed atmosphere I ventured a little more opinion, “The Liberals needed a new leader for this time; the Conservatives’ wannabe savior lost his seat; and the NDP got sacrificed so the liberals could win.” I said it and there was no uncomfortable silence! There was agreement (did not take a vote 😉), a celebrative atmosphere, amazing the fellowship of unhinged kindred. Only in Canada!

Thinking back now, I can say it was sort of a theme already a couple days before the election; several conversations with friends were non-committal regarding whom to vote for, also acknowledging that the ballot box would not be a conditional of continuing friendship. There were the confessed or closet conservatives, some liberals with a reason, and me the Saskatchewan boy still NDP just because of basic long-held values and something earthy about voting as my dad would have. Among my peers there is also agreement that we live by a commitment higher than a political party.

So I shall close it down here. Even those of my friends who don’t read much and those who avoid reading my blogs because they fear a sermon, can read till the end. Political parties wax and wane. Democracy is a great thing, but not the only thing. Government of the people by the people for the people  –  if only politicians would not try to convince an electorate that ‘the other party’ is a shameful mess, and when it’s all done, like last night’s speeches, even the losers tried to sound like winners (except for Jagmeet Singh). Seems to me that our change-room atmosphere was a hint of some new possibilities.

One further query for my thinker. What might the atmosphere be in U.S. change rooms these days?