When times change,,,

Through my six decades I have seen considerable change and yet there are times when I think I really will not see any more progress. This tends to be especially true in politics. But then I am reminded by the Canadian public that though quiet they are thoughtful and resilient.

The past several years in Canadian politics have been bleak, brutal and nasty. Under Stephen Harper the Conservatives have waged a war on democracy by distorting the truth and suppressing any attempts at open discussions and critiques of their policies. Lacking any idea beyond reducing the role of government in Canada they smear and denigrate anyone who might attempt to articulate a vision for this country beyond balancing the books and reducing taxes. The level of vitriol and acrimony within Parliament has become poisonous.

When the current election began it seemed that the best Canadians could hope for was another Conservative minority. Then something happened. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the Tipping Point and it seems somewhere in this campaign Canadians reached theirs. That it first became evident in Quebec is most intriguing. That it soon spread outwards across the country is fascinating. Beginning the campaign at 19% in the polls, the NDP have steadily risen from a distant third to a close second. The gap between them and the first-place Conservatives is tantalizingly small.

Will this result in a transformation in Canadian politics? Only election day will confirm that but something has already happened and any political party that ignores this does so at its own peril. Canadians are not sheeple. We may be slow to react. We may be patient beyond our own best interests at times but when change comes it is transformative.