There is no Canada any more, only the "Canadian street"

John Ibbitson's Canada is no Canada at all (full Globe and Mail text not officially online).

...it was easy, even necessary, for Stephen Harper to side emphatically with Israel in the war against Hezbollah. Yesterday, Jason Kenney, the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary, happily compared Hezbollah's role in Lebanon to that of National Socialism in Germany in the 1930s. Both had the trappings of legitimacy, he said; both were the political personification of evil.

Such unequivocal assertions sit uncomfortably with millions of Canadians -- Arab, Muslim, immigrant and native-born -- who see the Middle East as a miasma, in which Israel is both victim and antagonist. Some believe the Conservatives' unambiguous solidarity with Israel has undermined popular support, leaving it vulnerable to defeat in the next election.

But the Middle East is a political acid that burns all who touch it. And it is corroding unity within the Liberal caucus...

These divisions are a product of the inevitable lack of discipline that attends a party in opposition, without a leader. But there's more to it than that. The Liberals are an urban, centrist, multicultural party, reflecting the view of urban, centrist, multicultural Canada. Confusion and disagreement swirl among the polyglot ethnicities that make up that environment; no wonder they swirl within the Liberal Party as well.

Clarity is bracing, and on the Middle East, as on so many other files, the Conservatives have had no qualms in providing it. But in its confusion and discord, the Liberal caucus more accurately reflects the Canadian street.

But we must remember that Mr Ibbitson loathes much of Canada.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at August 23, 2006 12:06 PM