I have no way of knowing what goes on in the backrooms of our government.

But I do know this – P.M. Harper seems more concerned with clinging to power than with moving forward on matters of policy. Our government does not seem to be connected to the rest of the world in ways that can help us and others – understand the fundamental principles of Canadianism and international responsibility.

The cyclical rash of advertisements attacking the opposition, denigrating other political leaders and appealing to the baser instincts of the electorate – are evidence that the thinking process in Ottawa is shallow and self-serving.

Our government has  taken a shotgun approach to policy. It has enunciated no clear goals that the average citizen can identify. There is the sense that in Harper’s court, power trumps everything else. There seems to be a mentality of “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead”.

But we exist in a world where the torpedoes are coming at us fast and furiously; they must be identified, tracked and dealt with. This cannot happen if the leadership believes its main goal is to hang onto power, rather than to identify problems and take steps to help solve them.

Government is about much more than just exercising control…it’s about being engaged as an active player on the world scene as well as on the domestic political scene.

Politics ought to be about ideas, vision and how to make our country and the world a better place. The true purpose of responsible politics is about inspiring the citizenry to believe that there’s a better way to do things and that an educated, developed nation like Canada has a real role to play on the global stage.

Our government needs to have clear objectives, well-defined goals…and it needs to move forward carefully…to achieve those goals.

Part of the problem Canada faces – could just be the comfort level of our society. We’ve allowed ourselves to be lulled into a state of mind that could be defined as, “I’m alright Jack”…or as…”What? Me Worry?”

We happen to live in one of the greatest countries on this planet. Our standard of living is one of the highest and our future is bright. But we’re mesmerised by our good fortune and too often we seem to overlook the foundational principles on which the country was built. Some things to remember:

• we separated from imperialism in a peaceful and constructive way.
• we developed a co-operative approach to social welfare partly out of necessity, but also out of compassion for others.
• we built a tolerant country of two cultures.
• we have always opposed Fascism and dictatorship by promoting the ideals of democracy and freedom…and we have fought and bled for those ideals.
• our wars have almost always been defensive ones and we have – as a nation – opposed the idea of planning and waging aggressive warfare.
• we opposed the illegal war in Vietnam because we believed it was irresponsible and wrong and our Prime Minister spoke out against it.
• our commitment to justice was clear and we provided safe haven to those who refused to fight.
• we supported the United Nations, because we have traditionally believed in taking responsibility for international fairness and justice.
• we supported the International Criminal Court for the same reason.
• we were once the poster nation for Peacekeeping in the world. (Now we rank somewhere around #50 in terms of contributing peacekeeping personnel – on a par with Mali).
• our efforts to come to terms with the wrongs committed against Native People and against Japanese Canadians are clear evidence of our humanitarian outlook.
• our refusal to participate in the illegal invasion of Iraq is evidence of our historic commitment to rational behaviour on the international scene.
• we entered the Afghanistan conflict only after the U.N. formed ISAF – the International Security and Assistance Force.

Since then, we have lost our way it seems.

Our leadership no longer speaks out against injustice. We have allowed Canadian citizens to be held in secret prisons, mistreated and even tortured. We accepted the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war, which goes against everything we have stood for throughout history. Our leadership has failed to speak out and promote the most basic Canadian beliefs. And for all those things and more, we must feel a measure of national shame.

Oddly enough – our government embraced the worst excesses of the Cheney/Bush administration in the U.S. and has failed to see the positive steps being taken by the new Obama administration, elected overwhelmingly by a majority of the American people.

Perhaps it’s time for Canadians to do some reassessment of what their country stands for.