Perchance to Dream...

The official said Mr. MacNaughton will be aided by his spouse and business partner, Leslie Noble, an influential figure within the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, who can reach out to the Republican-controlled Congress.

“Regardless of who wins the presidency, Congress will be run by the Republicans, and Leslie will be able to help in making the case for Canada on Capitol Hill,” the official said.

MacNaughton is an old-school Liberal, well-respected within backroom circles.  He's pretty tight with Trudeau's Chief of Staff, too.

As is his wife, Leslie Noble.  It might seem funny, but while I learned a good deal about how the system functions (and doesn't function) from David, Leslie was far more of a mentor - I learned a good deal about how to work the system from her.

One's tight with the Liberals.  The other is tight with the Conservatives.  Both know how to speak to elites on either side of the spectrum.  And both are tight with key folk in the PMO.

Think about the back-channel potentials in this for a second.  Think about the influence the PMO theoretically could have for nudging domestic partisans and for building bridges or at least framing issues in a positive way south of the border.

Then, throw Open Government into the mix.  The people behind that on both sides of the border are collegial, too.

Interest dynamic, is all.  And one worth paying attention to.

What are we holding on to?

"We think they hold on for their families," he said.

This line is going to haunt me for a while.

Periodically, people ask me how it is I stay positive, how I stay focused on what can be instead of wallowing in what isn't, how I keep going when it can often feel like I'm shovelling water.

The most honest answer would be "I don't."  I have my dark moments, just like everyone, and probably darker than most on rare occasions.  To steal a quote - my doubts are for myself.  I know that people aren't asking to find some magic tip or strategy - ultimately, what they want to know is that there truly is something worth fighting for.

Which, ultimately, is what hope is.  

That is what so many people are looking for.  When they think they've found it, they throw it against the wall, put it under the microscope and sometimes just walk away because they are afraid that it might not be real.  It can be really hard to believe that hope can be anything more than a delusion.  

The notion of putting your faith in and being vulnerable, completely vulnerable to an idea that's about as tangible as a thin ray of sunlight on a cloudy day is frightening.  We don't want to take the risk of hoping that things can be better because the disappointment of finding out we were wrong, silly, naive to do so is terrifying.

I live in the same world as everyone else does.  I see the same realities, hold the same conversations, read the same headlines.  

And I don't just hope that things will be better - I know they will be better.  100%.  In fact, there are countless amazing, inspiring stories out there right now that show hope is always, always present. Yes, there is war, strife, bigotry, famine, genocide, injustice and all the rest of it in the world.  Yes, there are some truly frightening scenarios emerging out there - everything from the frictions between global communities as the world becomes a more integrated place to climate change.  The world of 2067 will look a lot different than the one we recognize today.

Yet the basics of humanity have never, ever changed - kind deeds, shared moments, helpful neighbours, all the the good that is embodied by that most universal of directives, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.  Except it doesn't need to be prescriptive; we don't need to know there's a win for us on the other side.  We just need to be human, and the rest happens by default.

We need to believe in ourselves.  We need to recognize others as being just as human as we are, with the differences a matter of software, with most of it being helpful for our own growth just as what makes us unique can benefit them.

It's a bit like being a parent, or being a child - both are teachers, both learn from each other and help the other grow into new roles in life. Particularly at this moment in history when the individual has often been reduced to gears in the economic engine, appreciating how a child sees the world can remind us of what really matters.  And of course, parents have a wealth of experience from which children can learn and adapt from to navigate the world and make it their own.

What is the special relationship between a parent and a child, or a couple, or friends, or partners? That bond which enables us to see the health and happiness of a wholly separate person as critical to our own well-being?  It's not a transaction.  It's not a strategy.  It's a state of being.

That state of being, of course, is love.  To love someone else is to put them first; to support and relish their victories, to be heart-broken and supportive at their losses, to be grateful for their very being.  It isn't to pander, or to not challenge, but always to nurture, even when the best way to nurture is to let go.

To love another is to make a sacrifice - but only when that love exists in a vacuum.  When love is reciprocated, and shared, then balance is found.

Love if faith and faith is the cornerstone of hope.  When you love others as you would love yourself, you seen in them the best of what humanity has to offer - something that is, truly, divine.

That's when it becomes clear that hope isn't an external fantasy, but an internal manifestation of that thing that binds us all together, whether you think of it as a feeling or a force or a greater consciousness.

What do I hold onto that keeps me going?  

Family.  It's as simple as that.

And my family has no borders.  You, in fact, are family.

That's my secret.

How can I not be hopeful when I know we're in this together?

Yes, And - Settling New Syrians

These new arrivals will doubtless integrate successfully, too, just as the 380,000 Arab Canadians who came before them have. But the Trudeau government will need to ensure that language training, housing and jobs are available for the new arrivals, without letting them jump to the front of any queue.

Ibbitson rightly gives credit to the Canadian government for stepping up and doing the right thing and so far managing the tricky balancing act of doing so in a way that doesn't blow up in anyone's face.

Fortunately for them - though not surprisingly - this isn't a challenge they've had to tackle alone.

In addition to sponsoring refugees and donating time and money to service providers, community groups across Canada have mobilized in creative, powerful ways.  Professionals are donating their services. businesses are donating space.  Groups of every day citizens are banding together, organizing clothing and backpack drives and inspiring other groups to form and do similar things.

Maybe this is what's happened with previous waves of refugees, to some degree - but this is the first time the Internet, Facebook and the like have been available to support and coordinate efforts.

Which isn't to say more coordination can't be done to better harness the good will and talent that's circulating out there, to say nothing of existing services.  This is actually a problem, as well-meaning folk recreate the wheel or confuse the process with the best intentions.

Funny enough, this reality is a microcosm of what's happening at the macro level with traditionally closed governments, service sectors and the like recognizing the need to collaborate better to be properly effective.

A team of us are working on a digital solution to help coordinate and empower the grassroots efforts around new Canadian settlement.  I have no doubt that this tool will have broader applicability down the road.

The Obnoxious Bully

Being LOUD and MEAN and HATEFUL is certainly the best way to get noticed in the Internet Era, true.

 It's not just true of the Internet Era - it's an historic fact of life.  Except to speak to the obnoxious curs themselves, what they're actually being is VOCAL and ASSERTIVE and REALISTIC.  

History is written by those who wrest the pen from the person who invented it, right?  Whether it's the bully in the classroom or the bully at the State level, bullies are always at the centre of things - because they simply can't have it any other way.

The sad part is how institutionalized this is.  We encourage bullies.  The guys who demand the corner office - because they're worth it, doncha know - are the ones who get it.  The toughest, loudest, most aggressive - the alpha, in other words - is expected to be the safest bet to hand over our security and management to.

In terms of the negative, North Korea exists because it's an irrational bully.  ISIL has exceeded to the extent they have for the sole reason that they're willing to go a step further than anyone else to get what they want.  The Nazis were the same.  It can't, and won't last, but for the foreseeable future, being a bully will continue to bear fruit.

It isn't until individual agency, humility and pro-social foresight are predominant in our gene pool that the bully will be neutered.  

We're getting there - it's just taking a really damned long time.