The Boiling Frog of Canadian Politics

There are three main reasons for this: One, we have a national memory in this country of about seven minutes. Two, we in the media - and, therefore, the opposition parties - flit from controversy to boondoggle like houseflies, and we rarely linger on any one overmuch. Three, the public have seen allegations of scandal made too many times to get upset anymore. Until they see someone led away to prison in handcuffs, they shrug.

 

 

It's not that we have a short memory - rather, we have been inoculated against scandal by hyper-partisan political rhetoric in a world where the sky has yet to fall. 

 

In Israel, people are actively engaged in their politics.  The fact that they literally are surrounded by people who'd like to see them gone may have something to do with that.

 

In Canada, the last major threat to our national security came 200 years ago.  Our politicians struggle to out-vilify one another, creating a sense of unease that increasingly Canadians aren't buying in to.  Montreal massacres and Eaton Centre shootings aside, we feel safe.  Until we are actually, clearly threatened from within or without, the frog will continue to boil.