What the World Thinks of Canada

Being a Canadian in Britain is, for the most part, awesome. You’re not European so the Brits don’t dismiss you as lazy and wasteful (like the French) or drunk (Irish) or corrupt (Italians). But there is the odd time where I’m mistaken for an American. The conversation usually goes like this:

Them: Where in America are you from?

Me: Actually, I’m Canadian. (sympathetic smile)

Them: Oh! (look of horror). I’m so sorry, I know that’s a huge insult.

Me: No, that’s OK, don’t worry. It happens a lot.

With Obama in the White House, I anticipate there will be less apologies, more “Do you guys really have polar bears?” questions (I’ve gotten a few of those). But I genuinely imagined the perception of Canadians by Brits was pretty favourable.

This article was a rude awakening. It's about Obama’s visit to Canada yesterday.

Canada is an interesting testing ground for the theory.

On the one hand, Canadians appear to like Mr Obama rather more than they like their own politicians - he has scored approval ratings here of nearly 90%.

On the other, reasonable, multilateralist, compromise-loving Canada doesn't really seem to do mania. You imagine the arrival of the Beatles here would have provoked civilised curiosity, and performances by the early Elvis might have prompted polite applause.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a Conservative who leads a minority government, and it would be fair to say that he has avoided the temptations of charisma in doing so.

Now, I’ll forgive the Harper comment because God knows he’s not the most awe-inspiring figure to ever grace Canadian politics, but really? Canada “doesn’t really seem to do mania.” Ever heard of a little thing called Trudeau-mania? The word is built in the title!

Boring, they think we're boring. They may not have said it in so many words. But that first sentence is the journalistic equivalent of "You're a big fat fuddy duddy!" This is the only time that I’ve ever actually wanted to comment on a news story. Wisely, the BBC doesn’t have that feature available. Otherwise I would have made severe use of it!


DISCLAIMER: No offense is meant by the cultural references above.

Self Evident Truths and Inalienable Rights

Barack Obama [President-Elect]
Originally uploaded by slight clutter

I usually write about European politics and European culture, but today is a momentous enough occasion for me to step away from that for a while. On the day of Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, I thought it would be fitting that I at least mark the occasion.

By now expectations for his presidency are so high, he'll need to walk on water to not disappoint. Being a student of history and international relations, I don't really want to add my two cents to the millions of people (both paid and not) who are speculating about his presidency. I will share more about what it's been like experiencing this election abroad with a later post. But on Inauguration Day, it might be interesting to think about other inaugural addresses, great orators (both real and fictional) and the power of words.

With that, please enjoy this article about former presidential speechwriters from my friend Sara.

History Repeating Itself?

It turns out this picture of my holding up the European Parliament may have been more omen than fun.

A few weeks ago, EU critics had a lot of fun when the roof of the Parliament in Strasbourg collapsed. That’ right, it fell in on itself. “EU falling apart” read some of the gleeful blog posts and headlines. Captivating though they were, this is now a serious problem for the EU. Reconstruction on the Parliament is underway but now comes word that it won’t be ready for Parliament’s opening session this month, meaning the opening will be held in Brussels.

This is a major blow for Strasbourg. It’s already not loved by EU critics with many using it as the best example of EU excess. Technically, Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament. EU law mandates that 12 plenary sessions be held in Strasbourg every year. The Espace Leopold complex in Brussels is smaller and is used for only preparatory meetings and non-plenary sessions. This has been a bone of contention for a while. Never mind that Brussels is the hub of most EU business but the cost of moving 790 MEPs and staff back and forth is expensive. The BBC puts the cost at £160 million (the Canadian dollar is twice the worth of one pound).

It’s gotten so bad that when at a conference I was at, a (French) reporter remarked that he believed that the citizen’s initiative—a part of the Lisbon Treaty that would allow EU citizens to propose legislation—was created in order to start a grassroots campaign to abolish Strasbourg as the Parliament’s official headquarters.

Advocates of the Parliament's Strasbourg headquarters—and not just the French who insist on hosting a major EU institution—say that it's important European history keeping the Parliament there. As I mentioned before, Strasbourg has huge symbolism in Europe. It’s located in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, an area that has been a major bone of contention between France and Germany since the nineteenth century. Having the Parliament there is supposed to be a symbol of Europe overcoming war and strife to form a union. But what does it say about this union when Strasbourg is again at the center of another European cross-country dispute?

Staying Together for the Kids

Coming from Canada, home of Quebec separatism and Western alienation, I always lamented the fragmentation of our country and bemoaned our de-centralized ways. Then I arrived in Belgium and things started looking up. Belgium is one of the most de-centralized countries in the EU, dare I say the world. It is divided into two regions, the poorer and French-speaking Wallonia (with about 30% of the population) to the west and the wealthier and Flemish-speaking Flanders to the east (with about 60% of the population). Each state is pretty autonomous with control over areas such as education and language. Then there’s Brussels, the seat of government, geographically in the middle and officially bilingual and saved from relying on either by being the home of the European Union (as well as 10% of the population). But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t had to blow the whistle on the constantly bickering siblings. Brussels acts very much like the parent in the driver seat of a car telling their misbehaving children that if they have to pull this car over, both will be sorry.

This dynamic has apparently suited (or minimized the constant grumbling of both sides to a minor annoying buzz) for quite a while, until it reached breaking point. Belgian politicians have been unable to form a government since last summer. And the most recent attempt resulted in a Prime Minister elected in the spring handing in his resignation to the King three weeks ago, saying he couldn’t achieve the reforms he’d pledged by his own deadline. The King, realizing a weenie when he saw one, refused the resignation and told them to go back to the drawing board. Meanwhile citizens in Flanders were angry at Wallonians claiming they sucked the prosperity from the country and threatened to separate if nothing was done. You can read more about this crisis here, here and here.

So it was against this backdrop of tension and uncertainty that the Belgian national holiday was celebrated on July 21st. Now I set the bar pretty low for this one. The country’s falling apart, I didn’t really expect fireworks and flag waving. Well, shows how much I know, because fireworks and flag waving were exactly what I got.

(Please excuse the horrific pictures. My camera is not made for night shooting, I have no tripod and a completly unsteady hand).

There were posters advertising the festivities for a few weeks and I like a good fireworks display as much as the next guy, so Cassandra and I trekked out to the Royal Palace (about a fifteen minute walk from our house) to see Belgians celebrate the greatness of their country.

And do you know, you wouldn’t have even known they were facing constitutional crisis. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people crowding the streets, waving Belgian flags, blowing on noise makers and hoisting children on their shoulders. It was really heartwarming. And the fireworks were spectacular. The soundtrack was peculiar (everything from the 1812 overture to 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Indiana Jones theme), but they were impressive.


And the fact that you’re witnessing them in a public square in front of a European palace makes it all the more special.